Lawlor demanded £100,000 on behalf of Redmond, says Gilmartin

GEORGE REDMOND pretended to be on the phone while Liam Lawlor demanded £100,000 from developer Tom Gilmartin during a meeting in Dublin County Council head office, the Mahon Tribunal has heard.

Mr Gilmartin said Mr Redmond, the jailed former Dublin assistant manager, never directly asked for money in connection with a shopping centre which Mr Gilmartin was trying to develop in the late 1980s but the payment was sought on his behalf by Mr Lawlor.

He said towards the end of his first meeting with Mr Redmond, the former official got up, went to another desk and picked up a phone and while he was there, Mr Lawlor told Mr Gilmartin there was a question of money. He then specified the figure of £100,000 (€127,000) and said he would have to "pay George".

"I looked over towards Mr Redmond and I did not think he was talking to anyone on the phone. He had it up to his ear but I believe he conveniently had his back to me," Mr Gilmartin told the tribunal.

"I made some non-commital comment and I got up to leave and Mr Lawlor came with me. On the way to the car Mr Lawlor said if you are going to go anywhere you will have to take care of George and you will have to have me on board. I said: 'Oh yeah? Well, I will think about it'."

The meeting took place in May 1988 after Mr Lawlor rang Mr Gilmartin and asked to meet him in Dublin. Mr Lawlor picked Mr Gilmartin up at Dublin Airport in his Mercedes and told him he was taking him to meet George Redmond who "had something for him".

They went the back way into the offices of Dublin County Council and met Mr Redmond who handed Mr Gilmartin a map of the Quarryvale lands in west Dublin which Mr Gilmartin was trying to buy up for his shopping centre. The various owners of the different parcels of land whom Mr Gilmartin had been trying to identify were all marked out in colours with their names printed alongside.

He did not think it strange a council official would have such a document but it was when he put it in his briefcase that Mr Lawlor raised the question of payment.

Mr Gilmartin recalled the incident on his third day of evidence to the planning tribunal currently probing payments and planning decisions relating to the development of the Quarryvale site, now the Liffey Valley shopping centre, and Bachelors Walk in Dublin.

His account prompted laughter from a packed public gallery. At one stage, tribunal chairman Judge Alan Mahon admonished the crowd for its noisy reaction when Mr Gilmartin told how Mr Lawlor once rang him to arrange a meeting in Heathrow Airport when he said he was passing through on his way to Baghdad.

"This evidence is very serious," said Judge Mahon. "Sometimes it is impossible not to laugh but you should try to refrain from laughter as much as possible."