Duggan asked Reynolds if Millstreet could be repaired

Cork businessman Noel C Duggan attended a private Fianna Fáil fundraising dinner in an attempt to have the roads to Millstreet improved, the Mahon tribunal was told yesterday.

Mr Duggan, who developed the Green Glens arena in Millstreet, said he attended the dinner - held on March 11th, 1994, in the home of accountant Niall Welch - on the invitation of Cork developer Owen O'Callaghan, and donated £5,000 to Fianna Fáil.

He said Mr O'Callaghan was aware that he wanted to meet then taoiseach Albert Reynolds to discuss the roads problem. Mr Duggan complained that "the road from Macroom to Millstreet had 61 bends and several up and downs", and he asked Mr Reynolds if he could do anything to get it repaired.

Developer Tom Gilmartin had told the Mahon tribunal that Mr O'Callaghan said he gave Mr Reynolds £150,000 at a dinner in Cork at about the same date.

Counsel for the tribunal, Patricia Dillon SC, asked Mr Duggan if he was aware that the dinner was a fundraiser before he attended. Mr Duggan replied that he was, because Mr O'Callaghan had told him. The discussion had been "very, very short and sweet", he said.

He said he had taken his cheque book to the dinner, had written the cheque, placed it in an envelope and left it on the table.

Mr Duggan said it was the only time he had made a donation to Fianna Fáil and he didn't get a receipt or an acknowledgment for the money.

Unlike previous witnesses who had attended the dinner, Mr Duggan said he had discussed the size of his donation with a fellow guest - businessman William Grainger.

Asked by tribunal chairman Judge Alan Mahon if Mr Grainger had suggested he donate £5,000, Mr Duggan said the figure had been suggested as a minimum.

"I was going for the minimum, your honour," he said.

Judge Mahon asked if anyone had provided the envelope for his cheque.

"No, but I had my own accommodation," Mr Duggan replied.

The tribunal also heard yesterday that the late Fintan Gunne attempted to sue Cork developer Owen O'Callaghan for £1.85 million after he failed to get selling rights for the Quarryvale development.

Estate agent and member of Fine Gael Gerry Leahy told the Mahon tribunal he was working for Mr Gunne in June 1992 when he attended a meeting with Mr O'Callaghan and Frank Dunlop in the Spa Hotel in Lucan.

Accounts of the meeting differed, the tribunal heard. Mr O'Callaghan and Mr Dunlop claimed they had said they would consider Gunne Estate Agents as agents for properties in Quarryvale. But Mr Gunne, who was not at the meeting, claimed they had promised the company would be sole agents for the development.

The deal was dependent on Mr Leahy lobbying his political contacts, including Fine Gael councillor Peter Brady, to ensure the project rezoning went ahead.

Counsel for the tribunal, Pat Quinn SC, read into the record a document created in 1994 and intended as a briefing note in a legal action against Mr O'Callaghan. The document stated that Mr Leahy believed he had a verbal assurance from Mr O'Callaghan for the sole rights at Quarryvale if he dealt with councillors that had "proved to be difficult".

However, Mr Leahy said yesterday the document had been written as ammunition against Mr O'Callaghan and to crank up the pressure on him. The facts had been "glossed up", Mr Leahy said, and he had told Mr Gunne he was not prepared to stand over it.

The legal action against Mr O'Callaghan did not proceed.