O'Callaghan denies asking for councillor's absence

CORK DEVELOPER Owen O'Callaghan has said he did not ask a former director of Fás to send an Independent councillor on a "junket" so he would be absent from a crucial vote on the Quarryvale development in 1992.

Mr O'Callaghan said although he knew and had spoken to John Lynch, now chairman of CIÉ, then director of Fás, he had not discussed Dublin councillor Gus O'Connell.

Mr O'Connell, who worked at Fás at the time, was opposed to the Quarryvale development, the tribunal heard, and was expected to vote against it on December 17th, 1992.

The planning tribunal is currently questioning Mr O'Callaghan as part of the Quarryvale II module, an investigation into allegations of corruption surrounding the rezoning of land on which the Liffey Valley shopping centre was built.

Lobbyist Frank Dunlop had told the tribunal that Mr O'Connell had been sent on a "junket" by Mr Lynch so he would not be present for the vote. Counsel for the tribunal Patricia Dillon SC said Mr O'Connell had said that on December 10th, Mr Lynch requested that he travel to England to take part in an employment study.

The study was to take place on December 17th, the same day as the council vote.

Ms Dillon said Mr Dunlop's records showed that Mr Lynch had been in contact with Mr O'Callaghan on December 2nd and December 16th.

Mr O'Callaghan said at the time he was in negotiation with Fás.

"This was the time I was trying to get a Fás training scheme for Quarryvale off the ground . . . and I was dealing directly with John Lynch because I didn't know anyone else in Fás," Mr O'Callaghan said.

"Did your contact with Mr Lynch have anything to do with his decision . . . to send councillor O'Connell to England?" Ms Dillon asked. Mr O'Callaghan said it did not.

He told the tribunal that he would be surprised if Mr Lynch even knew Mr O'Connell.

Ms Dillon said Mr Lynch certainly did know Mr O'Connell and was aware he was a councillor.

Mr O'Callaghan also said he did not think a private letter he wrote to former taoiseach Albert Reynolds in 1992 would ever become public.

The letter, discovered to the tribunal by Fianna Fáil, was written in November 1992 prior to a general election.

In it, Mr O'Callaghan said he believed "it is vital for the country that we have a Fianna Fáil-controlled government".

He told Mr Reynolds he always supported party candidates and was supporting candidates in Dublin and Cork for the 1992 election.

He enclosed a cheque of £5,000 for the party.

And he said his total support was "in excess of a six figures".

Ms Dillon said it was not unreasonable to conclude that Mr O'Callaghan had meant he had donated in excess of £100,000 to the party in 1992.

"Oh God no . . . that's over 30 years," Mr O'Callaghan told the tribunal.