Ex-FF councillor ‘wanted £100,000 to back plans for Quarryvale’
Developer Tom Gilmartin claimed Mr Hanrahan wanted the money because the centre, planned for Quarryvale in west Dublin, would damage the local businesses he usually relied on for support.
"He [Mr Hanrahan] said 'this is going to damage quite a few of my friends in Lucan who have taken care of me over the years and if I support your scheme, I expect to get something for it'. I said, 'yeah?' He said, yeah, I want £100,000 for my support'," Mr Gilmartin told the tribunal.
"Then he said, 'I have met people like you' or words to that effect 'who, when they get what they want, they did not pay up, so I want £50,000 up front'."
When pressed by tribunal counsel for his reaction to this demand, Mr Gilmartin said: "I thought to myself, 'if this is an example of how this country is run, God help the poor devil that's walking the streets of Luton looking for a job'."
Mr Gilmartin said the meeting took place at his request on the afternoon of December 28, 1988, in the Buswell's Hotel bar after Liam Lawlor advised him Mr Hanrahan was one of a several councillors whose support he would need.
He said as he walked downstairs to the bar, he saw the property developer Owen O'Callaghan, with whom he had a meeting earlier that day, with his solicitor, John Deane, architect Ambrose Kelly, Liam Lawlor and another man.
By the time he got to the bottom of the stairs Mr Lawlor had "disappeared". He did not know what Mr Lawlor was doing there but said: "I would say with Mr Lawlor, nothing happened by accident".
He said Mr O'Callaghan nodded in the direction of Mr Hanrahan, who was sitting separately from the group. When he walked away from Mr Hanrahan after their brief exchange, Mr O'Callaghan asked him: "Did he tap you?" Mr Gilmartin said he replied: "What do you think?"
The tribunal heard Mr Hanrahan would dispute this account of the meeting. He would say Mr Gilmartin phoned him numerous times to set up a meeting despite Mr Hanrahan making it clear time he would not support the project; he refused again when they met face-to-face; and Mr Gilmartin was not very happy leaving their meeting. Mr Gilmartin said this was a "lie" and a "fabrication".
The tribunal also heard Mr O'Callaghan's account would differ from Mr Gilmartin's in that he said the meeting did not take place before January 31, 1989, that it lasted a good 15 minutes and that he followed Mr Gilmartin out of the hotel after noticing he was upset. He would say Mr Gilmartin told him, 'here he was trying to bring all the barefoot Irish emigrants back from Luton and that this f****r was asking for £100,000'. He would say Mr Gilmartin said he was going to the Dáil the next day to tell the minister.
Mr Gilmartin said he never used the term "barefoot" and he was adamant the meeting took place on December 28.
"I had trouble at home over leaving the house at Christmas and going to Dublin," he said.
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