Mahon Report – Corruption at heart of rezoning

As the old saying goes, it’s a long road without a turn, and for Messrs Frank Dunlop, Jim Kennedy, Liam Cosgrave, Don Lydon, Colm McGrath and Tony Fox that fateful bend arrived yesterday when the damning last chapter of the Mahon Tribunal on Planning and Payments was finally published.

Besides accepting evidence that Dunlop — disgraced lobbyist and former Government press spokesman who spent 13 months behind bars for corruption — had made corrupt payments totalling £25,000 on behalf of businessman Jim Kennedy, the report states unequivocally that six councillors received bribes of: £9,000 (Cosgrave, Fine Gael); £7,000 (Fox, Fianna Fáil); £3,000 (Lydon, FF); £2,000 (McGrath, FF); £3,000 (the late Tom Hand, FG); and £1,000 (the late Sean Gilbride, FF).

Coming hard on the heels of the recent dramatic collapse of the Carrickmines corruption trial, caused by the medical condition of Dunlop, chief state witness, the tribunal leaves no doubt that corruption was at the heart of an orchestrated campaign of bribery to get the 100-acre valley rezoned, thus increasing its value enormously.