Dunlop claim on bribery a lie, widow maintains

MAHON TRIBUNAL: The widow of former Fine Gael county councillor Mr Tom Hand has accused Mr Frank Dunlop of telling lies about her husband by claiming that he sought a bribe for supporting a rezoning motion.

Contradicting Mr Dunlop's evidence, Mrs Annie Hand (78) said the former government press secretary and lobbyist had never been to her home in Dundrum and she had never met him.

Mr Dunlop, who claims Mr Hand sought £10,000 in return for proposing the motion to rezone lands at Carrickmines in south Dublin in 1992, has told the tribunal he visited the Hand home a number of times. On at least one occasion, he says, Mrs Hand opened the door, let him him and served him tea.

Mrs Dunlop told the tribunal she did not know her husband had opened an account in Australia, but it did not surprise her.

Their son lived there and Mr Hand would have been concerned for the education of their grandchildren. Mr Hand died in 1996.

Mr Dunlop has claimed Mr Hand sought a £250,000 bribe in 1992 in return for his vote on the rezoning of Quarryvale in west Dublin. He says the politician handed him a sheet of headed paper from the Commonwealth Bank of Australia with his account number written on it.

Mr Hand's family originally responded to this allegation by denying he had an account in Australia. Their lawyers accused Mr Dunlop of "dining out" on the allegation and picking on a deceased man "for convenience".

However, further checks by the tribunal revealed that Mr Hand had opened accounts with the bank.

The Commonwealth Bank confirmed that the late Cllr Hand held two accounts with the bank in the early 1990s. One account number corresponded to the number Mr Dunlop says was provided to him. The two accounts were closed in 1991 and 1993 respectively.

The bank no longer has details to show lodgments or withdrawals involving the late Mr Hand's account.

Mrs Hand said her husband hadn't said anything to her about an account in Australia. He had visited their son there twice but she didn't travel.

Mr Dunlop has also claimed he gave Cllr Hand's daughter, Ann, advice about going into public relations, but Mrs Hand said this was not true.

She told her counsel, Mr Cormac Ó Dulachain, that she and her husband didn't have a lavish lifestyle. She had never been on an aircraft, for example. Cllr Hand wasn't the sort of man who was constantly looking for money, as Mr Dunlop had claimed.

But she admitted she didn't know much about her husband's financial affairs.

Later a Fianna Fáil councillor, Mrs Betty Coffey, who signed motions to rezone the Carrickmines land in 1997, denied that she had offered to get another councillor to second the motion.

Mrs Coffey said Mr Brian O'Halloran, one of the landowners, was wrong when he alleged that Mrs Coffey had offered to approach Cllr Liam Cosgrave about the motion, or to seek cross-party support.

"It didn't happen. I told him to get support himself," she said.

The tribunal also heard how Mr O'Halloran donated £1,000 to a Fianna Fáil fundraising event after being told his original donation of £250 "wasn't worth bringing". Mr O'Halloran said Mrs Coffey told him this "bluntly" in 1996.

In a letter to Mrs Coffey enclosing the £1,000 cheque, he said he had considered sending the money to another councillor, Mr Larry Butler, "but how could he or anybody else even think I would deviate from you?"

Yesterday Mrs Coffey defended her action, saying £250 wouldn't have bought a table at the fundraising event.