Lawlor was central to bribes scam, says Dunlop

FORMER Fianna Fáil TD Liam Lawlor was central to attempts to rezone lands through the use of bribes and undue influence, according to statements Frank Dunlop has given to the Flood Tribunal.

The disgraced politician who has been jailed three times for failure to co-operate fully with the tribunal is named as one of three people behind controversial company Jackson Way Properties and its predecessor, Paisley Park Investments.

Dunlop, who is due to be a witness at the tribunal early next month, has claimed Lawlor not only had a financial interest in the company and the lands it owns at Carrickmines in south Co Dublin but also acted as a middleman between the other owners and county councillors they needed to pay in order to buy support for rezoning motions in relation to these and other lands.

He said he understood Lawlor retained an interest in Jackson Way at least until after 1997 and that he once drafted a motion attempting to realign the South Eastern Motorway through the Jackson Way lands in a way that would have benefited the company.

Dunlop also says two Fine Gael county councillors, Olivia Mitchell and Therese Ridge, approached him during an earlier rezoning attempt to seek assurances Lawlor was not involved in the Paisley Park venture before they would agree to support the motion.

Lawlor has vigorously denied the allegations, telling the tribunal in a letter last September he did not “directly or indirectly by agency, trust, nominee, consultancy, partnership or otherwise have any interest in Paisley Park, Jackson Way or their associated companies or in lands in Carrickmines”.

Dunlop first identified Lawlor privately to the tribunal when he wrote his name on a piece of paper and handed it to chairman Justice Flood when giving evidence in spring 2000.

In a statement submitted since and read into the record by tribunal counsel yesterday, Dunlop said in January, 1991 James Caldwell, a former solicitor he also named as one of the three Jackson Way principles, telephoned him about Paisley Park and the lands at Carrickmines and asked him to contact businessman and gaming arcade owner James Kennedy, the third man.

He said Kennedy told him there was going to be a proposal to rezone the lands and that it would cost money.

They discussed the amount and settled on £25,000 which was given to him “on the understanding that it would be used to ensure councillors would support and vote for the rezoning of the Paisley Park lands”.

Kennedy said he had “been through the process before” and had already “had involvement with Mr (Tom) Hand”, a county councillor from the Dun Laoghaire Rathdown electoral area where the Carrickmines lands were located. Dunlop said he was to get a “success fee” of £100,000 if the rezoning motion was passed.

He said Kennedy told him it was Liam Lawlor who originally told James Caldwell to ring him in January. “I was informed by James Kennedy that Mr Lawlor was very helpful and would continue to be very helpful in the future. He said the matter of rezoning was going to be tight but with Mr Lawlor’s help it might succeed.

Dunlop said that over a period of five or six years he had numerous meetings with James Kennedy and on a variety of these occasions, he spoke of Lawlor and his ongoing interest in the lands. Some years later he heard of a falling out between James Caldwell and Liam Lawlor.

He said in 1992 James Kennedy said he had discussed a strategy with Liam Lawlor for securing a favourable alignment for the South Eastern Motorway and that Lawlor had been responsible for drafting a motion to this effect tabled by councillor Tony Fox.

The motion was unsuccessful, as were two rezoning motions which were narrowly defeated, but a third rezoning motion tabled in 1997 eventually secured an industrial zoning for a portion of the lands.

Dunlop said in 1997 he entered a new arrangement with James Kennedy who promised him a fee of £250,000 if the rezoning was successful and that this was later changed so that “success would translate into the value of one commercial acre”.

Counsel for the tribunal John Gallagher SC said it appeared there was an attempt to fix the South Eastern Motorway line “in a most advantageous way which would facilitate the development or rezoning of the greatest part of the Jackson Way lands”.

Dunlop said it was recognised from the early 1990s that if the motorway went through the lands, compensation would be assessed on the basis of their zoning. Jackson Way is currently at the centre of a €47m compensation claim against the State after the lands were cut in two by the motorway.