Dunlop ‘nearly fell off his chair’ at Gilmartin’s fraud squad threat

FORMER government press secretary Frank Dunlop “nearly fell off his chair” after hearing developer Tom Gilmartin threaten to call in the Garda Fraud Squad over his Quarryvale project, the Mahon Planning Tribunal heard yesterday.

Mr Gilmartin, who had been attempting to develop the site into a major shopping centre in Dublin’s western suburbs, was describing the scene in a Dublin city centre hotel ahead of a crucial council vote to rezone Quarryvale on May 16, 1991.

Ultimately, the Sligo-born developer — now a leading witness at the current probe into the Quarryvale development — lost out. He claimed he was forced to hand over the development to former business partner, Cork-based Owen O’Callaghan, amid pressure from AIB bank which was financing the deal.