O'Callaghan denies having paid £30,000 to Ahern in 1994

CORK DEVELOPER Owen O'Callaghan has said he did not pay former taoiseach Bertie Ahern £30,000, and he certainly did not direct his lobbyist Frank Dunlop to pay Mr Ahern any money.

The planning tribunal is 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 is built.

The tribunal had heard Mr O'Callaghan's business partner in Quarryvale, Luton-based developer Tom Gilmartin, had said Mr O'Callaghan told him he paid Mr Ahern, then minister for finance, £30,000 in early 1994.

The payment was allegedly made to ensure Mr Ahern did not grant tax designation to Blanchardstown shopping centre, which would have given it an advantage over the Quarryvale development. Mr Ahern has denied the allegation. The tribunal had been told £30,000 was lodged to Mr Ahern's account at AIB, four weeks after he met Mr O'Callaghan.

Tribunal chairman Judge Alan Mahon asked Mr O'Callaghan, whether it was possible that Mr Dunlop paid Mr Ahern "at your direction or on your behalf, and with your knowledge"? "Certainly not at my direction, chairman, certainly not with my knowledge," Mr O'Callaghan responded.

Counsel for the tribunal, Patricia Dillon SC, examined a separate allegation by Mr Gilmartin, that Mr O'Callaghan told him he paid former taoiseach Albert Reynolds between £100,000 and £150,000 at a dinner in Cork in March 1994 and that Mr Ahern was to get a cut of it.

Ms Dillon said it had been established a fundraising dinner took place in Cork in March 1994 in the home of Fianna Fáil supporter Niall Welch, and that Mr O'Callaghan and Mr Reynolds were present. By that stage, Mr O'Callaghan had pledged to donate £100,000 to Fianna Fáil to help tackle its £3 million debt.

Mr Gilmartin had said Mr O'Callaghan told him he handed over a cheque for up to £150,000 at 3am in the bedroom of his house. "Oh my God, that's as far from the truth as it could possibly be," Mr O'Callaghan said.

Tribunal member Judge Gerald Keys asked whether Mr Gilmartin might have misinterpreted something Mr O'Callaghan told him about the Cork dinner and about his donation to Fianna Fáil. He asked: " . . . Could it be that maybe out of frustration when your project was confronting difficulties, you could have used loose words and said, 'well listen, I paid these guys £100,000', meaning the donation - that he interpreted that as an actual direct payment to them?" "That is a possibility, judge, yes," Mr O'Callaghan said.