An expertly cast bag man and master of ‘the system’
The former lobbyist’s name pops up everywhere in the Mahon Report and such is his pivotal role in the events outlined in its pages, an entire chapter is dedicated to him. He was the spoke in the wheel — everything and everyone appeared to revolve around him — and even the FBI couldn’t quite get his measure.
Investigators from the bureau were drafted in to decipher diary entries — including those thought to relate to dealings between Dunlop and property developer Owen O’Callaghan and another entry linked to Liam Lawlor he had attempted to “obliterate”. His explanations for the interfering with diary entries given to the tribunal were “distinctly evasive, vague and unsatisfactory”, including his claims he had merely been “doodling”. It was just one of the damning findings in the report relating to Dunlop.
