Planning for the pay day

Several early revelations about suspected planning corruption were ignored and recommendations quietly buried before the Mahon Tribunal began its work, Michael Clifford reports

RAY Burke was bang to rights. Journalist Joe McAnthony had investigated the planning process and how some councillors were using it to enrich themselves. It was June 1974, a time of great innocence in the world of planning.

Burke, as a member of Dublin County Council, had seconded a motion to rezone lands at Mountgarry, near Swords, from agricultural to industrial. The lands increased in value by around £400,000 as a result of the rezoning. According to a document published by the paper, Burke had received £15,000 when the land was sold on. The councillor — who was also a newly-elected TD — had engineered the rezoning of land of which he was a beneficiary.