Former FG councillor says he had to pay a bribe

FORMER Fine Gael councillor Jim Fay alleged at the Mahon Planning Tribunal yesterday he had to put £5,000 cash in an envelope for an official in An Bord Pleanála to get planning permission.

Mr Fay, a builder, said he reported the incident, which happened in the 1980s, to the gardaí and senior FG party members but got no response.

“Nobody listened, Nobody wanted to know,” he added.

The incident arose from a development he was undertaking at Blanchardstown, west Dublin. He claimed one of his employees told him his appeal to the Planning Board would not “travel” unless he paid £5,000 in cash of his £11,000 fee.

Mr Fay claims he paid the money through this individual and his fee was officially reduced to £6,000. Planning permission came through within days.

Despite FG pressure, he decided not to run for election in 1991.

Mr Fay told chairman Judge Alan Mahon landowners told him they would have to pay councillors for their support. “I didn’t get the names of the other councillors. I didn’t want to know,” he said.

Former foreign minister Ray Burke said he had known nothing of Mr Fay’s allegation until hearing it that day at the tribunal.

Mr Burke said he was aware of considerable innuendo in newspaper and television coverage in the early 1990s about payments to councillors, but he had no experience of any specific instances. But he did not think any of the allegations had been proven.