O’Callaghan to challenge the findings of tribunal

Developer Owen O’Callaghan has confirmed that he will go to the Supreme Court to challenge the findings of the Mahon Tribunal.

Last week the High Court rejected his objection to the planning tribunal which found he was involved in payments to politicians who decided on rezoning schemes in Dublin.

Mr O’Callaghan had argued that the findings of the Mahon Tribunal were based on a vague definition of corruption and they should have been put to him before they were published. He said due process was not followed.

But the High Court said he was given sufficient opportunity to respond to the allegations during the course of the hearings. The developer gave evidence at the tribunal over the course of 38 days in 2008.

In a fresh statement, on foot of the High Court’s judgement, Mr O’Callaghan said: “My position on the findings of the Mahon Tribunal hasn’t changed following last week’s High Court decision.

“Having consulted with my legal team, I now intend to appeal to the Supreme Court.

“I emphatically rejected the Mahon findings when they were published last year and still do. There were critical deficiencies in the tribunal processes which ultimately led to its findings and I fully intend to contest these.”

Last year, the report of Judge Alan Mahon found that the Cork developer was aware of and actively engaged in corrupt payments to politicians during a three-year period in the 1990s.

And it said that he worked with Frank Dunlop and Liam Lawlor for the purpose of corruption.

However, it could not reach a conclusion on whether he had also given substantial financial support to former taoiseach Bertie Ahern.

The tribunal said Mr O’Callaghan might have been reluctant to partake in corruption to begin with but later actively embraced it.

Mr O’Callaghan has always contended that he knew nothing about how Dunlop used money he had given him during his work in west Dublin.