Haughey turned up at Baldoyle meeting

FORMER Taoiseach Charles J Haughey turned up at a meeting between developer John Byrne and senior officials of Dublin Co Council, the Mahon Planning Tribunal heard yesterday.

It happened in the early 1970s when Mr Haughey was in the political wilderness as a Fianna Fáil backbench TD, having been sacked from Taoiseach Jack Lynch’s Cabinet during the Arms Crisis in May 1970.

Retired Dublin chief engineer Kevin O’Donnell recalled how Mr Haughey showed up at his Parnell Square office with the engineers and architects involved in a proposal to develop 500 acres of land which included the former Baldoyle Racecourse in county Dublin.

Asked by tribunal lawyer Des O’Neill SC to explain Mr Haughey’s attendance, Mr O’Donnell replied: “I presumed he was there as a supporter of Mr Byrne’s. He didn’t contribute very much to the meeting.”

Mr O’Neill said it had been suggested the reason Mr Byrne had been refused rezoning for Baldoyle was because he had been identified with Mr Haughey.

Witness said this was not the case. The development could not have been allowed on engineering grounds because the land was subject to flooding.

On another occasion in the mid-1970s, Mr O’Donnell described a meeting he had with Mr Haughey about another matter. After they had lunch together and were on the way back, Mr Haughey — who was driving — stopped in front of the former Baldoyle Racecourse and asked Mr O’Donnell “a few peremptory questions” about the property before driving on.

Mr O’Donnell described how he himself took early retirement in January 1991 and six months later became a director of McCarthy & Partners — the engineering firm that had been involved in Mr Byrne’s Baldoyle project nearly two decades earlier.

Lobbyist Frank Dunlop’s evidence, Mr O’Neill said, was that McCarthy & Partners was chosen for the Baldoyle project by former FF deputy Liam Lawlor, who died in a Moscow car crash a year ago. Yesterday, Mr O’Donnell said he had no knowledge of Mr Lawlor’s involvement.

Joan Clarke, who was employed as office manager by the late Mr Lawlor, confirmed she typed a number of letters on John Byrne’s letter-headed notepaper.

At Mr Lawlor’s request, Ms Clarke said, she typed letters sent to Dublin Co Council officials relating to the Baldoyle project between 1986 and 1987. The letters purported to come from Mr Byrne.

She typed these letters in Mr Lawlor’s offices in Lucan, although the documents bore Mr Byrne’s Ballsbridge home address.

Mr Dunlop is due to give evidence today on his allegations he bribed councillors to support the project.

Three of the councillors are now dead; the other four deny receiving corrupt payments from Mr Dunlop.