Land speculators ‘joined by Ahern at party fundraiser’

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern was “very much in evidence” at a Fianna Fáil fundraiser attended by land speculators whose north Dublin property rezoning is being probed by the Mahon Planning Tribunal, it emerged yesterday.

Auctioneer Sean Dillon described being a guest of consortium principal John Butler at Dublin’s Royal Hospital Kilmainham in the early 1990s.

Seated at the table were the two other consortium members, Niall Kenny and Tom Williams, who shared ownership of the 18-acre Cloghran site near Dublin Airport.