Gilmartin: Ahern among few I could trust

BUSINESSMAN Tom Gilmartin told the Mahon Tribunal yesterday he had regarded Taoiseach Bertie Ahern as one of the few Fianna Fáil politicians he could trust.

He said he met Mr Ahern on four occasions in 1989 when he was trying to sort out difficulties caused by certain FF politicians as he tried to get his Quarryvale development in west Dublin off the ground.

Mr Gilmartin denied repeatedly offering a £50,000 bribe to Fianna Fáil, pointing out it was not illegal to give a party a donation. However, he conceded he would have paid £500,000 to extricate himself from Quarryvale due to the corruption he experienced in his Irish operation. He alleged Cork-based developer Owen O’Callaghan — his former business partner turned bitter rival — orchestrated the difficulties, before taking over Mr Gilmartin’s Barkhill company and the Quarryvale project. Mr O’Callaghan denies the allegation.

Under cross-examination yesterday, Mr Gilmartin insisted he was not seeking a political favour when he made his £50,000 donation to FF via former EU commissioner Pádraig Flynn in early June 1989. He admitted he left the payee blank on the cheque and did not get a receipt. At the time Mr Flynn was honorary treasurer of FF and minister for the environment.

Mr Gilmartin stressed Mr Flynn did not have power to grant tax designation status to the Quarryvale project. This was a matter for the Department of Finance.

He told Mr O’Callaghan’s lawyer Paul Sreenan SC: “You can go on till hell freezes over trying to associate me with bribery and corruption, but you will not [succeed], because I did not bribe anyone.”

Yesterday he explained: “There was an absolute ring of corruption. They were not Soldiers of Destiny, they were soldiers of fortune.”

Mr Gilmartin admitted paying cheques from his own bank account to former FF deputy Liam Lawlor, while leaving the payee’s name blank. He said he was instructed to do so by Arlington, a Britain-based development company that planned a project in Dublin’s Bachelor’s Walk.

Arlington had appointed Mr Lawlor as a consultant and Mr Gilmartin, who was project manager, paid all but one of the 10 £3,500-a-month cheques given to Mr Lawlor. Arlington reimbursed Mr Gilmartin.

Questioned about his role, Mr Gilmartin admitted he regarded the money paid to Mr Lawlor as improper payments. He said he objected to Mr Lawlor’s involvement with Arlington and personally would not have given him a penny, but Mr Lawlor had persuaded Arlington to take him on board after he gate-crashed a meeting and demanded money on behalf of the Government.

Mr Gilmartin said in considering how much to give Mr Flynn for Fianna Fáil, he linked it to amounts demanded from him in bribes.

However, this did not stop “the games” that were being played by Mr Lawlor and then local government official George Redmond. He said they were thwarting his Quarryvale plans because he would not pay them bribes.

Mr Gilmartin said he got no favours from the £50,000 payment: “I got myself bankrupt, I got myself destroyed.”