Carlisle Trust is linked to £180,000 Dunne payment

Carlisle Trust, the company run by the multi-millionaire, Mr John Byrne, has been linked to a £180,000 payment from Mr Ben Dunne which went to Celtic Helicopters and the late Mr Des Traynor.

Mr Byrne is a property developer who has been involved in office and other property developments in Dublin for about 40 years.

His properties include O'Connell Bridge House, D'Olier House and Parnell House. The State has taken tenancy of a number of his buildings.

Mr Traynor, the former close friend and financial adviser of the former Taoiseach, Mr Charles Haughey, was a long-time director of Carlisle Trust.

Mr Byrne, of Simmonscourt, Ballsbridge, Dublin, could not be contacted last night. Attempts to contact Mr Ciaran Haughey, the son of Mr Charles Haughey and a major shareholder in Celtic Helicopters, were also unsuccessful.

Three cheques made out to cash in November 1992 by the former managing director of Dunnes Stores, Mr Dunne, and totalling £180,000, were lodged in a Carlisle Trust account in the Rotunda branch of the Bank of Ireland, Dublin.

Celtic Helicopters eventually received £100,000 of the money, while the remaining £80,000 went to Mr Traynor.

Details of the payments were revealed yesterday in a High Court action in which Dunnes Stores is contesting the appointment by the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, of an authorised officer to two Dunnes Stores companies.

The £180,000 is part of payments of approximately £500,000 made by Mr Dunne which, in the view of the Tanaiste, should have been reported to the McCracken tribunal by Dunnes Stores.

Earlier it had been believed that the £180,000 was issued from an account in the Bank of Ireland branch in Marino, Dublin, which was personally controlled by Mr Dunne. However, it has emerged that the money came from a Dunnes Stores Ireland "grocery account".

Carlisle Trust Ltd was incorporated in 1958. Through Carlisle Trust and another of his companies, Dublin City Estates, Mr Byrne built a number of major Dublin office developments, some of which were let to the State. Mr Traynor was a director of both companies.

Companies Office records show the majority shareholding in Carlisle was held by Guinness Mahon Cayman Trust, the Cayman Islands bank which became Ansbacher (Cayman) Ltd. Guinness Mahon Cayman Trust was set up by Mr Traynor and Guinness & Mahon Bank, Dublin, in the 1970s. It was run by Mr Traynor and the late Cayman Islands banker, Mr John Furze.

Mr Byrne is still active in business and seems likely to profit handsomely from the recent decision of Fingal County Council to rezone two large tracts of land in north Co Dublin, between Baldoyle and Portmarnock, for housing. He has owned the land for more than 20 years.

Companies Office records show that other former or current Carlisle directors include Mr Anthony Gore Grimes, of The Baily, Howth, Co Dublin, and Ms Ciara Byrne, of Simmonscourt, Ballsbridge, Co Dublin.

Company secretarial services were supplied to Carlisle Trust by Management and Investment Services Ltd, Dublin, a company run by Mr Sam Field Corbett, a close business associate of Mr Traynor.

Companies Office records also show Mr Byrne to be or have been a director of Prince's Investments Ltd, Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin, and Ballybeggan Park Co Ltd, Tralee, Co Kerry. Prince's Investments is the company behind the Mount Brandon Hotel in Tralee.

Mr Byrne was one of the driving forces behind the Rose of Tralee Festival, and later married a winner of the contest, Ms Ciara O'Sullivan.