Dunlop payments queried

MAHON TRIBUNAL:BUSINESSMAN TOM Williams has said he did not tell the tribunal he paid lobbyist Frank Dunlop over £18,000 in 1993 because he did not remember.

Mr Williams, formerly an owner of the Courtyard Restaurant in Donnybrook with partners John Butler and Niall Kenny, was yesterday presented with cheques written to Mr Dunlop which he had personally signed in 1993. He said he believed Mr Dunlop was not paid until 1996.

He was being questioned as part of the Cloghran module, an investigation into allegations of corruption surrounding the rezoning of land near Dublin airport.

The tribunal had heard that Mr Williams and his partners bought 18 acres at Cloghran in 1989 for £215,000 and sold it in 1996 for £1.6 million. In between, the land had been successfully rezoned from agricultural to industrial as part of the 1993 development plan for Dublin county council.

The three men hired Mr Dunlop to promote the rezoning. Mr Dunlop had said he paid £5,000 to councillors in 1993 to ensure the zoning was supported and Mr Butler was aware councillors would be paid.

Pat Quinn SC, for the tribunal, said cheques totalling £18,125 had been provided to the tribunal as part of an Allied Irish Bank discovery after Mr Williams gave evidence in November 2006. He said when Mr Williams took the stand on that occasion he said Mr Dunlop had not been paid until after the the land was sold in 1996.

"You would agree with me that contrary to what you originally believed there were a series of payments to Mr Dunlop before the lands were sold and all of these payments were made some time after January 1993 and before September 1993?" Mr Quinn asked.

"Yeah, that would appear to be correct," Mr Williams said.

"And how was it that you failed to remember that, Mr Williams, when you came to give evidence?" Mr Quinn asked. Mr Williams said he did not remember because of "the amount of time involved".