Court orders O’Callaghan to pay tribunal costs

DEVELOPER Owen O’Callaghan faces a large legal bill following his failure to halt the Mahon tribunal’s inquiries into allegations against him.

The Supreme Court dismissed Mr O’Callaghan’s challenge to the inquiry by a four to one majority earlier this year. Yesterday the court directed he must pay the costs to the tribunal of opposing that challenge.

The tribunal is carrying out further inquiries in its Quarryvale Two module, which was deferred pending the outcome of the case.

The Supreme Court upheld the High Court’s decision that Mr O’Callaghan had failed to show the tribunal was biased against him and in favour of Tom Gilmartin in its treatment of Mr Gilmartin in the Quarryvale One module.

It found the tribunal had not behaved unfairly to Mr O’Callaghan and had not prejudged his credibility unfavourably and Mr Gilmartin’s credibility fairly.

The tribunal was only in its investigative stage, the court stressed. It accepted that the tribunal would determine the issue of credibility only after all the evidence was gathered and the public hearings.

Ms Justice Susan Denham said Mr O’Callaghan had established no basis on which to stop the tribunal proceeding. Aspects of Mr O’Callaghan’s appeal illustrated “antagonism” to the tribunal, she remarked.

The judge also stressed the undesirability of the courts’ intervening in a tribunal while it is at hearing and expressed concern at the court being brought by Mr O’Callaghan through a “microscopic” analysis of decisions of the tribunal.

In the High Court in October last year, Mr Justice Thomas Smyth dismissed the challenge brought by Mr O’Callaghan; John Deane, a solicitor and partner in O’Callaghan Properties; Riga Ltd, of Lavitt’s Quay, Cork and Barkhill Ltd, which developed Dublin’s Liffey Valley shopping centre.

Mr O’Callaghan had claimed Mr Gilmartin has made untrue allegations in private to the tribunal, including that Mr O’Callaghan had made offshore payments to senior politicians, but then never mentioned those in evidence at the tribunal’s public sessions. The allegations were concealed by the tribunal, he claimed.