Dunlop claims Cosgrave got #5,000 in cash

The former Fine Gael senator, Mr Liam Cosgrave, was paid £5,000 in cash for signing six motions to rezone lands owned by the controversial English company Jackson Way, the Flood tribunal has been told.

The lobbyist, Mr Frank Dunlop, said he paid the money to Mr Cosgrave in two instalments in October and December 1997.

The money was paid specifically in connection with the politician's support for the Jackson Way rezoning.

The different motions signed by Mr Cosgrave proposed the rezoning of part or all of the Jackson Way lands - and in some cases, the rezoning of adjacent lands - for residential or industrial use.

Mr Dunlop said this strategy was deliberate, and based on the principal that "if one thing didn't work, another might".

In December 1997, one of these motions succeeded, when Dún Laoghaire/Rathdown county councillors agreed by 13 votes to 11 to rezone 47 acres of land at Carrickmines for industrial/residential use.

Mr Dunlop said Mr Cosgrave had asked for £5,000 for his support and he agreed to pay it.

Referring to an entry in his diary for that year, Mr Dunlop said he paid the first instalment of £2,500 at a meeting in the Davenport Hotel on October 30th, 1997. No receipt was asked for or given.

The second instalment was paid on December 23rd in Buswell's Hotel. Mr Cosgrave was not alone, though the person or persons accompanying him were not adults. At the request of tribunal counsel, the witness supplied the name of the person(s) to the tribunal.

Mr Dunlop said he paid Mr Cosgrave a further £2,000 at this meeting in respect of his support for the rezoning of the lands owned by Brian O'Halloran, Gerard Kilcoyne and Austin Darragh. The money was paid over in a bag in the bar of the hotel. "It could well have been a Christmas present," he said.

Fianna Fail councillor, Mr Tony Fox, who signed two of the motions, was also paid £5,000 at this time, Mr Dunlop said.

He paid Mr Fox £1,250 in the Davenport Hotel on October 28th - the same day the motions were sent to the council - and the balance at some time before Christmas 1997.

The first payment is noted in his diary but this contained no references to the subsequent payments. "He was happy and pleased to get a significant amount of money."

Mr Dunlop said the payments he made to Mr Cosgrave and Mr Fox were "over and above" other payments he allegedly made to councillors in relation to the same land in 1992.

Both men deny they received any improper payments from Mr Dunlop.