Councillor Fox rejects bribery allegation

MAHON TRIBUNAL: Fianna Fáil councillor Tony Fox says he "categorically refutes" an allegation by Mr Frank Dunlop that he took a £1,000 bribe in return for his vote on the rezoning of land at Bray.

Mr Fox said yesterday he never met Mr Dunlop in connection with the attempted rezonings of the land owned by St Gerard's school in 1992 and 1998.

Asked about Mr Dunlop's claim that he had refused to sign the later rezoning motion but referred the lobbyist to a party colleague, Mr Fox said this was "absolutely untrue".

He also denied an allegation that the two men conspired to give misleading evidence to the tribunal by describing payments from Mr Dunlop as election contributions.

Mr Fox said he met Mr Dunlop by chance in 1999, and took the opportunity to ask the lobbyist if he had given him any money. He said Mr Dunlop phoned him later to confirm that he hadn't.

Ms Patricia Dillon SC, for the tribunal, asked why Mr Fox was asking this question when he knew that he had hadn't got a penny from Mr Dunlop.

Mr Fox said he was just "double-checking" in case there was "the slightest possibility" Mr Dunlop had given him money. He said he was in favour of rezoning green belt land if an institution such as St Gerard's requested this.

He supported the rezoning of St Gerard's land because it would have resulted in improved facilities for the school. The manager of Dún Laoghaire/Rathdown county council had recommended the rezoning of the land in the latest development plan, he pointed out. He took his "steer" on how to vote on rezonings from the attitude of the local Fianna Fáil councillor.

Fianna Fáil members were "consistent" in that all those who voted, voted in favour of the rezoning motions in 1992 and 1998. He agreed this stance could have had something to do with the fact that the party met as a group in advance of council meetings on both occasions.

Ms Dillon said Mr Dunlop's phone records showed that Mr Fox had contacted him over 30 times between March 1992 and October 1994. She asked why Mr Fox had not told the tribunal about this level of contact.

Mr Fox said he hadn't been asked. He was probably returning calls from Mr Dunlop.

The witness was questioned at length about his financial affairs and, in particular, on his spending on overseas trips. In 1998, he travelled on council business to London or Brussels in January, Russia in May and France in June. He also holidayed in the US with members of his family in April.

Mr Fox explained that his children had helped pay for the plane ticket to the US. The council would have paid for the business trips. Everything was "more or less" paid for. In that year, his income was about £13,000 to £14,000; most of this came from county council expenses and work as a tailor.

Questioned further about his financial affairs, Mr Fox said he gave one of his sons about £1,000 to pay for an education course and £2,000 as a wedding present to another son. These payments would have been made by cheque.

Mr Fox denied a claim by Mr Dunlop that they met to discuss the St Gerard's motion in a pub near Mount Argus in Dublin in September 1997. It looked like Mr Dunlop had put a false entry to this effect in his diary, he suggested.

Ms Dillon said it would have been highly risky for Mr Dunlop to falsify a diary by noting a meeting on a particular day when he didn't, and couldn't, know what Mr Fox was doing on that day.

Mr Fox agreed, but said he wasn't the one who made the diary entry. He expressed the hope that he would be re-elected in next year's local elections.