Controversial developer John Byrne passes away

One of Ireland’s most successful property developers and the man who told the Moriarty Tribunal he never gave the former taoiseach, Charles Haughey “a penny in his life, or a pound”, has passed away.

John Byrne, who was in his early 90s, died at his home in Dublin.

The Kerry native was involved in some of the country’s biggest deals during more than 70 years in the business, even constructing several prominent office blocks. In recent years, he was earning more than €5.7m from the Government through leasing the properties.

Mr Byrne grew up on a small farm in Kerry before moving to Britain, where he made his money from dance halls. He returned at the request of taoiseach Sean Lemass, who wanted offices built to house an expanding public sector. His buildings in Dublin included O’Connell Bridge House, D’Olier House, and Parnell House.

During the 1960s and 1970s, he bought more than 500 acres of green-belt land in Baldoyle, including the former racecourse. It was that land which cemented rumours of a link between him and Mr Haughey.

In the early 1970s, the former taoiseach was in the political wilderness, having been sacked from taoiseach Jack Lynch’s cabinet during the Arms Crisis in May 1970. At that point, Mr Haughey turned up at a meeting between Mr Byrne and senior officials from Dublin County Council where discussions were being held over a proposal to develop 500 acres of land, which included the former Baldoyle Racecourse. Mr Byrne would sell the racecourse in 1999 to Sean Mulryan.

Mr Byrne told the Moriarty Tribunal he never gave Mr Haughey “a penny in his life, or a pound” after he was asked to explain how more than £300,000 of his money found its way into bank accounts which were used by Mr Haughey.

Mr Byrne was identified in the Ansbacher report as a potential beneficiary, together with members of his immediate families, of trusts which were established under the law of the Cayman Islands.

Just two years ago, he won a Supreme Court order overturning parts of the Ansbacher inspectors’ report into illegal offshore accounts which drew adverse inferences from his involvement with those trusts.