Almost two years after he blew the whistle, the Flood tribunal is ready tostart hearings into Frank Dunlop's evidence, writes Paul Cullen
The Irish political system, at least at local level, is about to experience death by a thousand cuts.
Starting from next Wednesday, when the Flood tribunal opens its investigations into a single controversial rezoning in south Dublin, the public will be regaled with a series of allegations about payments to county councillors.
Not all the alleged payments will have been corrupt, not all of them will have been substantial, but the cumulative effect of these revelations will be to erode any remaining confidence the public has in local government politics.
This may be unfair to the vast majority of upstanding, overworked, underpaid county councillors, but given the scale of the problem over successive decades, it is hardly surprising.
The tribunal is looking at dozens of instances of alleged corruption, mainly in Dublin but in other regions too. But its first investigation next month will focus on attempts that were made to rezone more than 100 acres of land at Carrickmines in south county Dublin.
Two separate attempts were made to rezone these lands for housing, in the early 1990s and in the late 90s. In both cases, it has been alleged that money was paid to county councillors to turn this land from turnip-fields into highly valuable building land.
Some idea of the value of the land can be gained from the claim by the current owners, Jackson Way Properties, that one-fifth of the lands, which were compulsorily acquired for the South-Eastern Motorway, are worth £47 million.
Against this, the £25,000 given to Mr Frank Dunlop to secure the rezoning of the lands in the early 1990s seems like money well spent, if you ignore the dubious morality of bribing politicians.
The ownership of the Carrickmines lands has been deliberately sheathed in layers of great complexity. The amusement arcade owner and publican, Mr Jim Kennedy, bought them from two brothers in 1988 for £540,000.
Ownership was vested in an Isle of Man company, Paisley Park Investments, and Mr Dunlop was brought in to secure rezoning.
But who owned Paisley Park? Mr Kennedy, it seems, owned a substantial stake. Mr John Caldwell, a taxation lawyer with great expertise in handling offshore financial transactions, also had a stake.
Another businessman, Mr Sam Stanley, also owned a share.
Mr Dunlop believes Mr Liam Lawlor was given a stake for his assistance, but Mr Lawlor has always denied any involvement in the company. Mr Caldwell and Mr Stanley have denied any knowledge of the payments to politicians.
Paisley Park was liquidated in 1993 and ownership passed to Jackson Way, which is registered in England. Mr Stanley bowed out at this point after internal disputes.
The tribunal has made extensive effort to establish the ownership of Jackson Way and it is clear now that they solved this mystery some time ago.
Earlier this month, a 47-year- old English surveyor, Mr Alan Holland, turned up at an arbitration hearing claiming to be the owner of the company. While this is true on paper, it is likely Jackson Way is merely holding the land for the real owners, which probably include Mr Kennedy and Mr Caldwell.
This has been effected by a bewildering structure of overseas companies put in place, presumably, by Mr Caldwell. According to yesterday's Sunday Independent, the structure even included a company registered in Liberia.
The tribunal will also be investigating the circumstances in which a further 22 acres in Carrickmines was rezoning during the 1990s.
This land is owned by three prominent individuals: the architect Mr Brian O'Halloran, the doctor and businessman Prof Austin Darragh and the businessman Mr Gerard Kilcoyne. Mr Dunlop was also involved in this rezoning, which succeeded at the second attempt.