Cosgrave's failure to comply led to tribunal summons

Former Fine Gael TD Mr Liam Cosgrave was summonsed to appear before the Flood tribunal last year after he failed to comply with repeated requests for a detailed statement.

In a letter ordering the former Fine Gael senator to give evidence in Dublin Castle in March 2001, Mr Justice Flood expressed his disappointment that a member of the Oireachtas had failed to submit a statement to the tribunal voluntarily.

Within a fortnight, Cllr Cosgrave filed the detailed statement requested by the tribunal and the summons lapsed.

The tribunal had written to Cllr Cosgrave on five occasions from 1999, seeking his response to allegations that he had received money from lobbyist Mr Frank Dunlop in connection with planning votes.

Mr Cosgrave's initial response was to say he thought he had received an "election donation" from Mr Dunlop. He said he never received any money in connection with his support for land rezonings. When he failed to submit a detailed statement, Mr Justice Flood wrote to Mr Cosgrave, pointing out his central involvement in the matters currently under investigation.

Mr Cosgrave voted for the motion to rezone the Paisley Park lands at Carrickmines in 1992, the chairman pointed out. He also seconded a 1997 motion to rezone part of the lands as well as voting for it.

Cllr Colm McGrath, who was a Fianna Fáil councillor during the 1990s, said he didn't receive any money from Mr Dunlop in relation to planning or rezoning matters.

He did receive a number of "unconditional political donations" in response to fundraising requests. This was to defray election expenses and the cost of running a constituency office. The amounts varied between £500 and £2,000, paid in cash or by cheque.

Mr McGrath has not replied to subsequent letters sent by the tribunal last July, Mr Gallagher said.

Mr Dunlop has told the tribunal Mr McGrath received £2,000 in connection with the rezoning of the Paisley Park lands in Carrickmines, as well as substantial sums in connection with the rezoning of Quarryvale in west Dublin.

Fianna Fáil Cllr Tony Fox denied he had received any money from Mr Frank Dunlop for any purpose. He neither solicited, received nor was offered money from anyone in return for planning matters.

Landowners, developers and lobbyists had no role at council meetings and no whip system was in place on rezoning motions, he said. His evidence directly contradicts that of Mr Dunlop, who alleges that Mr Fox received two payments totalling £7,000 in connection with the rezoning of the Carrickmines lands.

The tribunal wrote to Mr Fox and all other former members of Dublin County Council earlier this year seeking information on alleged payments by developers and lobbyists. Lawyers enclosed a number of media articles published in 1993 which suggested that payments were made to councillors and that lobbyists regularly marshalled votes on the council.

In his statement, Mr Fox said he had no comment to make on the articles. As for the contention that sufficient land was already zoned for housing before county councillors started their rezoning activities, Mr Fox said that any member of the council could dispute this based on the experiences of ordinary people trying to buy houses at affordable prices.

Mr Fox pointed out that developers now met 60 per cent of the cost of road and sewage schemes. He received hundreds of representations on the county development plan and, in the course of these, had cause to meet Mr Dunlop.

Mr Fox said Dublin County Council met in a chamber designed for 36 members, but which had to accommodate 78 members, staff and media. Members had to deal with copious documentation. He wouldn't know much about matters outside the Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown area and so he would be guided by the views of local members regarding developments in other parts of the county.