Gilmartin received death threats warninghim away from tribunal

KEY Mahon Tribunal witness Tom Gilmartin received death threats as recently as a year ago warning him not to give evidence to the investigation into planning corruption.

The Sligo-born developer said yesterday he was told to “remember Veronica Guerin” and warned that if he turned up at the Tribunal in Dublin, he would not be coming back.

Mr Gilmartin said the telephone threats to his home in Luton began in 1998 after a newspaper report appeared saying that tribunal staff planned to interview him.

“The first one said if I turned up in Dublin to remember Veronica Guerin I knew what was waiting for me,” he said.

“The second phone call that came, my son answered the phone and he was told in no uncertain terms to tell me that if I gave evidence to the tribunal or turned up, I would not be coming back.”

He said he took a third call himself which was similar to the others and he responded by telling the caller that they would “have to make a good job” of him.

He had one or two other calls since 1999, the more recent about a year ago.

He believed the calls came from Ireland and said one caller spoke with a distinct Dublin accent and another with a hint of Cork.

Around the same time, a friend of Mr Gilmartin’s in Crosshaven, Co Cork, got a call telling him they needed to “watch” him. In other words, said Mr Gilmartin, “that somebody should watch and take care of me.”

Mr Gilmartin was asked by counsel for the tribunal yesterday to supply fuller details of the threats. He said he did not report them to the police at the time as his wife was stressed by them and, given the political situation, he did not want them being connected to the IRA.

He said that he had dealt with supposed IRA threats before because, as a wealthy businessman living in England, he was pressurised by people claiming to be the IRA into funding their cause although he suspected they really did belong to the organisation.

On one occasion some men had arrived at his door and pushed their way in demanding money. “I said no money of mine would buy a bullet to kill anybody,” he said. “They said they’d be back and I better cough up but I told them they had better make a good job of me because I will take two of you with me.”

Mr Gilmartin also recalled an incident in March 1989 after he was contacted by phone at his home in England by chief superintendent Hugh Sreenan who was investigating other complaints of planning corruption.

After their first conversation, he got a phonecall from a man who claimed to be a “Garda Byrnes” who accused him of making false allegations and wasting garda time.

The tribunal heard that a Superintendent Byrnes was involved in the investigation but Mr Gilmartin said while his caller seemed to have some knowledge of the investigation, he didn’t know who the person on the phone was and suspected it was a stunt.