Developer Monarch paid councillors voting on rezoning of its Dublin site

CHERRYWOOD:ONE OF the State's leading property companies engaged in "the antithesis of democracy" by corrupting councillors to secure the rezoning of its lands at Cherrywood in south Dublin, the report states.

Monarch Properties engaged in a “systematic, organised and concerted operation” involving payments to councillors, which was designed to maximise support for the rezoning, it says.

The company retained Frank Dunlop as a lobbyist, knowing that he would pay money to councillors in return for their support, it finds.

Monarch gave money to a total of 68 politicians in the 1990s while it was trying to secure the rezoning of the 230 acres of land near Loughlinstown, in south Dublin.

The tribunal says it is impossible to ascertain the extent to which the payments influenced councillors and acknowledges that some of those who got money voted solely on the merits of the proposal.

A significant portion of Monarch’s cash expenditure of almost £163,000 between 1992 and 1996 consisted of secret payments to elected councillors, it says. “Such expenditure was almost certainly corrupt.”

The tribunal says Monarch chairman Phil Monahan, who died in 2003, is likely to have known about the activity, as did executives Richard Lynn, Dominic Glennane and Eddie Sweeney.

The company kept its books in a way designed to conceal the true nature of the payments, it is stated.

A claim by Mr Glennane that £42,000 was given to Mr Monahan to buy cars or antiques is rejected as “completely implausible”.

Mr Dunlop was paid £65,000 by the company in relation to Cherrywood, while Fianna Fáil TD Liam Lawlor got a total of £72,800, including two corrupt payments of £56,300 in 1990.

The report describes a number of payments made to councillors as corrupt, including £3,000 given to Tony Fox, £3,100 to Colm McGrath, £6,000 to Tom Hand, £3,300 to GV Wright and £3,100 to Don Lydon.

The tribunal says Mr Lynn masterminded the Monarch strategy of making generous payments to many councillors at election time in order to secure their support for the project.

It accuses him of being instrumental in making payments to unidentified councillors in a “cynical and corrupt” attempt to compromise their work.

“This blatant use of money constituted, in reality, an abuse of the democratic system in that it facilitated Monarch in its bid to influence the voting patterns of elected councillors while exercising their public duty.”