Councillor in bribe claim ‘never voted on land rezoning’
Lawyers for John O’Halloran told the inquiry that the former independent (and one-time Labour) councillor from Clondalkin had never even attended any meeting of Dublin County Council on which votes to rezone land owned by Paisley Park in Carrickmines were held.
The political lobbyist, Frank Dunlop had already told the tribunal he was paid £25,000 by tax exile, Jim Kennedy to bribe councillors to support the rezoning of his lands in 1991 and 1992.
Mr Dunlop has also claimed he gave Mr O’Halloran a total of around £5,000 in a series of small payments for his willingness to support a number of various developments.
Yesterday, Mr Dunlop accepted that his statement to the tribunal may have given a wrong impression about Mr O’Halloran’s support for the rezoning of the Paisley Park lands.
He repeated an earlier allegation that he had decided to give money to Mr O’Halloran after the politician had complained that other councillors were “coining it”, while he got no reward for being pro-development.
Mr Dunlop stressed that any inaccuracy in his statement did not take away from the substance of his allegations about Mr O’Halloran.
He remained adamant that Mr O’Halloran would have supported the development, if he had been asked. However, Mr O’Halloran denies ever receiving any improper payment from Mr Dunlop.
Mr O’Halloran’s barrister, Martin Dully highlighted a number of inaccuracies in Mr Dunlop’s statement yesterday, including a reference that he had lobbied the councillor when he was an independent at a time when he was still an elected official of the Labour Party. Mr Dunlop replied Mr O’Halloran had always operated as an independent and “didn’t give a fig” about what Labour colleagues thought of his actions.
It is expected that Mr Dunlop will concluded his evidence on Paisley Park/Jackson Way later today after 23 days in the witness box.
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