Developer got taste of ‘typical scandal in’70s land deal’

CHIEF witness at the Mahon Tribunal, Tom Gilmartin, has told the inquiry of a 1970s land deal that gave him a taste of the injustice he claims he encountered later in his aborted multi-million-pound plans for developments in Dublin.

Mr Gilmartin recounted the case after it was raised by counsel for the Taoiseach, Conor Maguire SC, who referred to a court report in the Anglo Celt newspaper of May 5, 1978, in which a Judge Sheehy in Cavan was reported as calling Mr Gilmartin “shifty”.

Mr Gilmartin insisted on addressing the criticism despite being advised by Tribunal chairman Judge Alan Mahon that he did not have to respond to evidence that was produced without warning or prior circulation to the tribunal legal team.