'Dreadful effect' on Dunlop family

PRESS CONFERENCE:CONCLUDING HIS evidence to the Mahon tribunal yesterday, Frank Dunlop said his 124 days on the stand had been an "extraordinarily difficult experience", but that all involved would live.

Chairman of the tribunal Judge Alan Mahon thanked Mr Dunlop for his attendance over long periods and said he would not be recalled unless something arose, but he did not currently foresee anything.

Mr Dunlop responded that the tribunal was the only legal forum he had ever attended, other than being fined for speeding.

"It is pleasurable to know that both the tribunal members and the tribunal team and my team and I have grown through it," he said. "We will all live, it is not the end of the world."

He said the only question to be answered now was whether the tribunal report or his book would be published first.

Mr Dunlop first took the stand in April 2000 and, after initial non- co-operation, gave extensive evidence to the tribunal on payments he made to 16 councillors in May and June 1991 and in November 1992 in connection with various developments in Dublin, including Quarryvale, Carrickmines and Ballycullen.

He told the tribunal over the following years that he paid out the bribes to get land rezoned for the developers he represented, including Cork developer Owen O'Callaghan. The councillors involved denied the allegations, but many said they had received political donations from Mr Dunlop.

Outside the Mahon tribunal yesterday, Mr Dunlop said he was quite relaxed and happy that his time in Dublin Castle was at an end. He had no regrets about the evidence he had given, although his attendance at the tribunal had taken its toll on his health.

It also had a "dreadful effect" on his family, "which inevitably occurs when you have to come in and say things you never thought you would have to say about other people".

He said he intended to finish his Masters in Law at Trinity College this year, as well as complete his book on his experiences at the tribunal.