Planning officials may now face inquiry

THE Flood Tribunal has not ruled out the possibility that it could examine the motivation of planning officials as part of its investigation into alleged corruption among councillors.

However, Tribunal lawyers stressed yesterday that no allegations had been made against any council official, in particular those who had appeared as witnesses before the planning inquiry.

Tribunal chairman, Mr Justice Feargus Flood, said it was obliged, under its terms of reference, to examine any issue which raised the possibility of planning corruption.

The issue arose yesterday after Ian Finlay SC for the solicitor John Caldwell and offshore company Jackson Way Properties, sought clarification from the tribunal as to whether it was alleging any impropriety on the part of council officials in relation to planning.

Mr Finlay said the matter had only come to his attention last Thursday when retired Dublin County Council planning official Enda Conway was giving evidence.

The barrister said it had been his understanding the tribunal was not actively concerned with any possible impropriety on behalf of planning officials in offering technical advice to councillors in relation to Carrickmines in south Dublin. However, if that was the case, Mr Finlay argued that it would have a material bearing on the defence of his client.

The planning inquiry is investigating allegations that Jackson Way paid £10,000 in bribes to two politicians in return for their support on a planning issue in 1997.

The tribunal has already heard that Jackson Way formally complained to Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown Co Council in 1998 that its officials had misled councillors about the development potential of land owned by the company in Carrickmines.

Political lobbyist Frank Dunlop has told the inquiry that Cllr Tony Fox (FF) and Cllr Liam Cosgrave (FG) each sought £5,000 for being signatories to an unsuccessful motion to have the Jackson Way lands rezoned a year earlier.

Another solicitor, Stephen Miley, subsequently complained by letter that it was “only because the wrong information was before them that the motion was defeated”.

Mr Caldwell recently admitted that he is one of the beneficial owners of Jackson Way. The company is also owned by the tax exile businessman Jim Kennedy, who is refusing to co-operate with the inquiry.

Mr Dunlop claims former TD Liam Lawlor (FF) also had a beneficial interest in Jackson Way.

John Gallagher SC for the Tribunal said that it was required under its terms of reference to inquire into any material that could amount to planning corruption.

He explained that Mr Conway had been merely asked last week to explain a contradiction between reports which came before the council in 1990.