Lawlor 'blackmailed' UK property firm, tribunal told

Liam Lawlor blackmailed a British property company by demanding they pay him off or risk a massive venture in Dublin from foundering, the planning tribunal was told today.

Property developer Mr Tom Gilmartin told the tribunal Mr Lawlor stormed into a meeting in London two days after he'd first met him, demanding to be paid off to ensure the £100 million project on the River Liffey's north quays didn't collapse.

Mr Gilmartin said he was working as a consultant for Arlington Securities in the late 1980s. The company was trying to build a multi-storey shopping complex in a city block bounded by Bachelor's Walk, Liffey Street, Abbey Street and O'Connell Street.

During talks with Dublin Corporation, Mr Gilmartin said he was told of a number of opportunities in west Dublin. He went out to inspect the area and became interested in the Quarryvale lands, which is now the site of the Liffey Valley Shopping Centre.

He asked his bank manager in the Bank of Ireland branch in Blanchardstown who he should contact about the Quarryvale lands and was introduced to Mr Brendan Fassnidge, who in turn arranged a meeting with Mr Lawlor. They met on Tuesday, May 10 ^th, 1988 in the Deadman's Inn in Palmerstown.

Mr Gilmartin claims the TD told him at this meeting that he had been appointed by the Government to "take care" of the Bachelor's Walk area and wanted to know who was behind the project. Mr Gilmartin told him the company involved was Arlington Securities. He said he told the TD he would mention having met him at a meeting of Arlington in London two days later.

Mr Gilmartin says he was sitting at this meeting when the telephone rang. It was answered by Mr Raymond Mould, the CEO of Arlington. He said there was a Mr Lawlor downstairs, who insisted he had been invited. Mr Gilmartin denied this, and said he was "never so embarrassed in my life" as when the former Fianna Fáil strode into the room, pulled up a chair and sat down to reiterate the claim he had been invited.

Mr Gilmartin said the atmosphere was extremely strained. "We were two Paddies in a room about to start an argument," he said. so he decided to "bite my tongue".

Mr Lawlor told the meeting his involvement could make the difference between the project getting off the ground or not. At the very least, it would take two years off the total time as he "knew all the wrinkles" and had direct access to the Government, who had appointed him to "take care" of the area as it was "on his patch".

Mr Gilmartin said he turned to one of the Arlington board members present, Mr Ted Dadley, and said: "This man is a f***ing hustler."

In my opinion, they were being blackmailed. Mr Tom Gilmartin

Mr Gilmartin said he was furious and left the meeting with Mr Dadley to go to for tea in a nearby hotel. He wanted nothing more to do with Mr Lawlor, he said.

He told the tribunal Mr Lawlor arrived a few minutes later, telling him Arlington had taken him on as a consultant and agreed to give him half of the 20 per cent cut that had been promised to Mr Gilmartin. "I said you're not getting it," the witness said. "Although I said it a bit more strongly."

Mr Gilmartin said he learned later Mr Lawlor had demanded a 20 per cent share of the whole Bachelor's Walk project on behalf of the Government and then, when that was refused, demanded a once-off payment of £100,000.

The TD eventually settled for £3,500 each month in consultant's fees, to be paid through Mr Gilmartin's bank account in Dublin. Mr Gilmartin said he objected strongly to this, but was overruled by Arlington, as they felt having Mr Lawlor on board would be a huge boost to their chances of success.

"In my opinion, they were being blackmailed," Mr Gilmartin said.

The tribunal heard yesterday that Mr Lawlor was paid a total of £57,5000 by Arlington in the 1980s and 1990s.