Councillor not sent on junket, says ex-Fás chief

Mahon tribunal:The former director general of Fás has denied that he arranged to send a councillor on a junket to London to prevent him from voting against the Quarryvale development.

In evidence to the Mahon tribunal yesterday, John Lynch, now chairman of CIÉ, said he absolutely refuted that he had arranged to send Guss O'Connell, an Independent councillor who worked in Fás, on a trip to London on December 17th, 1992, so that he would not be present for a crucial vote to rezone Quarryvale for town centre development.

He said he never sent anyone on a junket in his life. The allegation was made by lobbyist Frank Dunlop.

The tribunal heard that Mr O'Connell, who managed youth training at Fás, was firmly against the Quarryvale development, which later became the Liffey Valley shopping centre.

Dr Lynch was a friend of Cork developer Owen O'Callaghan, who was behind the Quarryvale development, and had served with him on the board of Bord Gáis. He also knew lobbyist Frank Dunlop, who worked for Mr O'Callaghan and was retained by Fás for public relations services.

Dr Lynch said he sent Mr O'Connell on the trip to London as part of a specialist group looking at employment and training services in the UK because he had "a particular expertise".

He told the inquiry he was aware Mr O'Connell would miss an important vote on Quarryvale and he told him that he could drop out of the trip if he "needed or wanted to stay". He told Mr O'Connell to make up his own mind, he said.

The trip was arranged in advance of Dr Lynch approaching Mr O'Connell, the tribunal was told, with the assistance of the Irish Embassy in London.

Counsel for the tribunal, Patricia Dillon SC, asked Dr Lynch about a series of calls he appeared to have made to Mr Dunlop's office in 1992, in particular, three calls made on December 2nd, December 15th and December 16th.

Dr Lynch said he got "a mountain" of calls to his office every day and he got his secretary to reply to them. "I don't personally make the phone calls," he said.

A note in Mr Dunlop's records of the call made on December 2nd said Mr Lynch was to make contact with Mr O'Callaghan. Ms Dillon asked why he might want to contact Mr O'Callaghan.

Dr Lynch said that Mr O'Callaghan was interested in including a Fás centre in the Quarryvale development.

However, Ms Dillon said the tribunal could not find any evidence to show that Mr O'Callaghan was interested in putting a Fás centre on the site prior to the end of 1992.

She asked if Dr Lynch could have been contacting Mr O'Callaghan in relation to Mr O'Connell.

"Categorically no," Dr Lynch responded. "An awful lot of this is perfect hindsight. In 1992 I knew nothing about planning; I knew nothing about Quarryvale."

Ms Dillon asked if Dr Lynch had called Mr Dunlop to tell him Mr O'Connell had agreed to go on the trip. "I refute that absolutely," Dr Lynch said.

Mr O'Connell told the tribunal he had asked Dr Lynch if the trip could be postponed until after Christmas.

"He said that the visit needed to be made now rather than later," he said.

He said his decision to go was a shared one. "My loyalty was to Fás," he said.

He said it had been his intention to return on an evening flight if the council vote had been close, but his schedule ran late. In the event, the motion was passed 39 for and 28 against.