Lawlor ‘had talks on lands in Dáil’

FORMER Fianna Fáil TD Liam Lawlor is alleged to have used offices in Leinster House to discuss plans for lands at the centre of the Flood Tribunal’s planning bribes investigation.

Mr Lawlor, who denies any knowledge of the lands owned by Jackson Way Properties at Carrickmines in south County Dublin, is said to have arranged a meeting with planning consultants at the Dáil in 1991 to prepare a submission about the property for the Dublin County Development Plan then under review.

The claim, by architect Brian O'Flanagan, an employee of D McCarthy & Co planning consultants, supports lobbyist Frank Dunlop's assertion that Mr Lawlor was heavily involved in the lands and efforts to rezone them.

In a statement to the tribunal yesterday, Mr O'Flanagan said he met both Mr Lawlor and businessman Jim Kennedy who denies owning the lands at the meeting in Leinster House, and that later Mr Kennedy, Mr Lawlor and Mr Lawlor's brother, Niall, visited him at work to collect maps he prepared for them. Mr O'Flanagan's boss, Frank Finnegan, also implicated Mr Kennedy in the lands, saying he got instructions from Mr Kennedy to seek planning permission for a housing development on part of the site. Involvement by Mr Kennedy was also indicated by Brian

O'Halloran, Gerard Kilcoyne and Professor Austin Darragh, who, in 1978, jointly bought a plot of land adjacent to what became known as the Jackson Way lands.

They said in 1988, the vendor of their land, Bob Treacy, told them he had sold the adjacent site to Mr Kennedy and that they subsequently had meetings with Mr Kennedy, who offered to buy their land.

The three men jointly engaged Mr Dunlop to lobby on their behalf when they sought to have their lands rezoned in 1992 when the attempt failed and again in 1997 when they were partially successful.

They paid him fees of £1,500 in 1992 and £5,000 plus a "success fee" of £30,000 in 1997, and made a number of political donations and gave Christmas bottles to councillors as recommended by him.

The tribunal also heard a suggestion that Frank Dunlop lied to a county councillor about what he knew of Mr Lawlor's involvement with the Jackson Way lands.

Cllr Betty Coffey said prior to the local elections in 1999 she became aware of rumours that Liam Lawlor was involved in the lands and was "shocked" because she had backed the 1997 motion which allowed the partial rezoning of the lands and felt if he had an interest in them, this should have been disclosed before the vote. She asked Frank Dunlop if there was any truth in the rumours and he assured her there was "no basis" for the stories and that to the best of his knowledge the lands were owned by a company in Birmingham.

Cllr Coffey said Mr Dunlop wrote to her after the election congratulating her on retaining her seat and expressing regret for any worry he may have caused her.