Architect 'was given confidential rezone map'

The Flood Tribunal: An architect employed by businessman Mr Jim Kennedy has told how he was given a confidential rezoning map prepared by Dublin county council 16 months before it was shown to councillors.

Mr Frank Finnegan, of D McCarthy, consulting engineers, said he was given the map before July 1989 by an official in the planning department, Mr Gerry Carroll, whom Mr Kennedy knew. He described the map as "classified, confidential and privileged". It gave him information that saved his client, Mr Kennedy, a large amount of money at the time.

The map showed that planners intended to rezone large areas of land at Carrickmines in south Dublin, including Mr Kennedy's, for industrial use. It was first presented to councillors at a meeting in October 1990. At the time, Mr Kennedy wanted to build houses on his land.

In his evidence, Mr Carroll acknowledged giving Mr Finnegan the map. However, he said he had been asked to prepare it by a female council official . "If management tells you to do something, that's what you do."

He prepared the map and put it in an envelope on which he wrote "To be collected". The next day, Mr Finnegan called into the office to collect it.

Mr Carroll said he thought it strange that Mr Finnegan, who was working for Mr Kennedy, was collecting a map ordered by an official. The more he thought about it, the more suspicious he became. He said nothing about the incident because he felt foolish.

"I felt I had been used by someone to get a map for Jim Kennedy. I knew enough about Jim Kennedy to stay away from him." The stories were "legion" about Mr Kennedy; there was "a story a week" about him. He was aware the map could enrich a person and could give a landowner significant advantage over other landowners.

Mr Finnegan said he first met Mr Kennedy in 1989, when he was asked to draw up plans for a housing development on Mr Kennedy's land at Carrickmines.

Mr Kennedy told him there was a "fellow" in Dublin county council, Mr Carroll, who might be able to help him. Mr Finnegan did not tell his client he already knew Mr Carroll; all three men hail from the same area of Co Laois and are around the same age.

He said Mr Carroll gave him an envelope containing the map. This probably happened in the planning office where Mr Carroll worked, but he also used to visit Mr Carroll in his home on a monthly basis at this time.

Mr Finnegan said he believed he was used as a "middle-man" to maintain some distance between Mr Kennedy and Mr Carroll. Mr Kennedy saw his company as a "convenient vehicle" for making submissions.

He was concerned about the map and wanted to return it to Mr Carroll in the council. However, when he asked Mr Kennedy to return the map, he was told it had been shredded by Mr Kennedy's legal adviser and business partner Mr John Caldwell.

Mr Finnegan discussed the proposal to build houses on what was then agriculturally zoned land with a council official. After this conversation, he saw the proposal as a "no-hoper" and a "futile exercise" because it went against the existing zoning.

Mr Finnegan said Mr Kennedy called him to a meeting in Leinster House in December 1991, which was attended by a colleague, Mr Brian O'Flanagan, Mr Kennedy and the Fianna Fáil TD Mr Liam Lawlor.

Mr Kennedy told him Mr Lawlor was acting in a "consultancy role" on the Carrickmines land. He was told Mr Lawlor was in financial straits and was "good at putting submissions together". He took this to mean that Mr Lawlor was acting on a fee basis.