Lobbyist received £15,000 cheque nine days before crucial council vote
Tribunal lawyer Patricia Dillon SC claimed Monarch was complicit by issuing a VAT-exempt cheque on November 2, 1993 in an underhand way so Mr Dunlop could pay councillors.
Effectively, the property development company was giving Mr Dunlop cash, she suggested to former Monarch finance director Dominic Glennane.
Ms Dillon put it to Mr Glennane the company was facing a crucial vote on the rezoning density of its south Dublin lands — the hope was to change that density to four houses per acre, which was the job of Mr Dunlop.
While Mr Glennane accepted his signature was on the cheque, he rejected Ms Dillon’s suggestion: “If you say Monarch gave Mr Dunlop money to pay to councillors, it’s untrue.”
An invoice from Frank Dunlop & Associates dated November 2, 1993 — the same day Monarch issued the cheque — recorded the £15,000 as being for “media and communications training”.
The tribunal found Monarch issued some cheques to Mr Dunlop without back-up invoices although the company said it was practice to seek support documents before payments were issued.
Initially, Monarch told the tribunal the company paid Mr Dunlop £52,500 but after further scrutiny the total emerged at £85,000. Mr Glennane said there was no intention to understate what Mr Dunlop was paid.
Mr Glennane could not explain why £23,450 given in political donations during May and June 1991 came to be listed as “strategy consultancy fees.”
These monies were initially assigned in the account of a Monarch company under the heading “Cherrywood promotions.”
Monarch described political donations to the two main political party leaders as “sponsorship.” Albert Reynolds (FF) got £5,000 and John Bruton (FG) received £2,500 in connection with the November 1992 general election.
Mr Glennane was quizzed about a £3,000 cheque made out to cash he signed in April 1993. It ended up in the account used to record political donations.
Tribunal chairman Judge Alan Mahon suggested it was an unusually large cheque to make out to cash and surely Mr Glennane must have some idea what it was used for.
Mr Glennane said the late Phil Monahan — who founded the company — generally used cheques made out to cash to buy old cars. He did not recall cheques made out to cash being used to make political donations.
The tribunal is investigating the rezoning of 236 acres of Monarch lands at Cherrywood in south Dublin during the 1990s. Monarch made payments totalling more than £500,000; a substantial amount of the money was paid out in political donations that the company listed as expense costs.
