Developer ‘took care of’ Ahern, Mahon told

BERTIE Ahern was “taken care of” and “looked after” by a businessman seeking special tax designation for one of his projects, the Mahon Tribunal was told yesterday.

`Broadcaster and pundit Eamon Dunphy said the clear inference he got from property developer Owen O’Callaghan was that the Taoiseach had received an improper inducement in connection with an early 1990s shopping centre scheme in Athlone, Co Westmeath.

He agreed that the words money, corruption and bribery had never been mentioned in a series of conversations, but stressed that was the “vivid impression” he received from Mr O’Callaghan.

The Cork developer had been very wary of Mr Ahern, regarding him as someone who would not deliver on his promises, according to the former soccer international-turned journalist.

Mr Dunphy made contact with Mr O’Callaghan in 1995 when the Hammam brothers, owners of Wimbledon Football Club, wanted to relocate their playing base to Dublin.

Mr O’Callaghan — then involved in a Dublin sports stadium scheme — became interested in the soccer idea and had a number of meetings with Mr Dunphy over a period of nearly three years before the move was scrapped following the sale of the Wimbledon club.

The pair developed what Mr Dunphy described as a harmonious relationship during the negotiating, with the ex-footballer providing advice in the context of European law issues that related to both the Football Association of Ireland and England’s Premiership soccer league.

Mr Dunphy said: “I was always looking at all of the angles, politically and football-wise.”

During their talks, then finance minister Mr Ahern was mentioned, as well as a number of other politicians with whom Mr O’Callaghan had dealings, including former Taoiseach Albert Reynolds and ex-minister and EU Commissioner Padraig Flynn.

The discussions went on beyond 1997, when Bertie Ahern — scheduled to be a tribunal witness over two days next week — became Taoiseach for the first time.

“In the case of Mr Ahern, Mr O’Callaghan remarked on several occasions that he was sceptical about him. There was one particular occasion when he made remarks to the effect that Bertie Ahern could not be relied upon to do a deal he had agreed to.

“In other words, he would do a deal and not deliver. He told me a story about a project he had in Athlone, where he felt Mr Ahern had not delivered on a promise and that the Taoiseach Mr Reynolds had had to put a gun to Mr Ahern’s head 15 minutes before midnight on the night before they left government.

“Mr O’Callaghan had been seeking tax designation — which was also important for the football project. It was Albert who effectively delivered and Bertie Ahern had been taken care of. He said Bertie was not going to do anything until he was pressured by Albert. Owen O’Callaghan never said anything about paying Bertie or giving him money. It was an inference I drew over a period of time — that he had been ‘looked after’.”

Mr Dunphy said that when he talked to him about Mr Ahern, Mr O’Callaghan had a “sardonic” look.

“Quite a number of things that were said by Mr O’Callaghan are fixed in my mind. The context in which they were said led me to draw inferences.”

When tribunal counsel Des O’Neill asked Mr Dunphy whether he believed Mr O’Callaghan had been telling him that Mr Ahern had been paid, he replied: “Yes.” He also said of Mr O’Callaghan’s comments: “He did not use the word corrupt — that was my interpretation.”

Mr Dunphy admitted that he was “not comfortable” in reporting the contents of his conversations with Mr O’Callaghan, declaring it wrong to break a confidence.

When approached by the tribunal he had agreed because “it was the right thing to do”.