Dunlop donated #250 to charity, ex-councillor says

MAHON TRIBUNAL: A former Fine Gael councillor has told how Mr Frank Dunlop promised a £250 donation for a charity he was involved in after he signed a rezoning motion that Mr Dunlop was promoting.

Mr Dunlop made the donation by cheque to Irish Bosnia Aid a few days after Cllr Donal Lowry signed the motion to rezone lands owned by St Gerard's school in Bray.

Mr Lowry stressed that the initiative for the donation came from Mr Dunlop and he had not sought or requested it. Mr Dunlop has also told the tribunal this was the case.

The contact with Mr Dunlop arose after Mr Lowry responded to a letter from the chairman of the board of St Gerard's, Mr Jim Sherwin, and expressed support for the rezoning. The school employed Mr Dunlop as a lobbyist for the rezoning, which was defeated by one vote in 1998.

Mr Lowry said yesterday he felt the school's proposal was a very imaginative one because it meant it could raise money for sports facilities without having to "lean" on pupils' parents.

As a school principal for 27 years, he knew the value of such facilities.

Mr Dunlop visited Mr Lowry at his home in November 1997. The lobbyist was under particular strain at the time because his father was seriously ill, Mr Lowry said.

As a result, Mr Dunlop was in a hurry and left once Mr Lowry had signed the motion. On the way out, he noticed a photograph of former Taoiseach Mr Albert Reynolds receiving the committee of Irish Bosnia Aid in his office.

Mr Dunlop asked about the photograph and Mr Lowry explained his involvement with the charity. Mr Dunlop said he would like to make a small donation. Mr Lowry told the lobbyist he didn't wish to place him "on the spot", but Mr Dunlop insisted.

"I thought it was generous at the time," Mr Lowry said yesterday. When he received the cheque made out to Irish Bosnia Aid, he forwarded it to the charity and "promptly forgot about it".

Mr Lowry originally told the tribunal the meeting with Mr Dunlop took place in January 1998 but he said yesterday this was "a lapse of memory" and he now accepted the date Mr Dunlop gave for the meeting.

He said the planning aspect of the rezoning did cross his mind but he regarded the needs of the school as paramount. If the landowner hadn't been a school, he "possibly" would have voted against the rezoning.

Mr Sherwin, who is RTÉ's rugby commentator and was chairman of the school board from 1996 to 2000, told the tribunal he wasn't aware at this time that Mr Dunlop was making payments to county councillors.

Asked if the school itself had made payments to councillors, he replied: "Not that I'm aware of."