Dunlop still in negotiation with Revenue

Lobbyist Frank Dunlop said yesterday that he is still in negotiation with the Revenue Commissioners over tax owed by him on payments revealed at the Mahon tribunal.

He told the inquiry that when he first declared the payments, in October 1998, he paid almost £250,000 in back-tax.

In early October 1998, after the tribunal was established, articles appeared in the papers saying that Luton-based developer Tom Gilmartin had made a statement to the tribunal about his concerns regarding the Quarryvale development, now known as the Liffey Valley Shopping Centre.

Mr Dunlop had been engaged by Cork developer Owen O'Callaghan in 1991 to lobby councillors to ensure that the Quarryvale project was approved by the council. He was paid for his services through a company called Shefran, and did not declare these payments to the Revenue.

Counsel for the tribunal, Patricia Dillon SC, said that when the stories began to appear about Mr Gilmartin it put Mr Dunlop in a "precarious position".

Mr Dunlop said it became evident to him that if the tribunal investigated Quarryvale he would become a participant.

The tribunal heard that Mr Dunlop then approached his accountant, Hugh McGowan, who contacted the Revenue on his behalf. However, Ms Dillon said, Mr Dunlop did not make a full disclosure of payments made to him by other companies, including National Toll Roads. Moreover, he did not mention other accounts he was operating at the time.

The tribunal heard that Mr Dunlop told the Revenue he received more than £420,000 from Barkhill Ltd and Riga Ltd, the companies behind the Quarryvale development, from 1992 to 1997. And he paid back-tax of £243,478 on October 8th.

He covered the payment by asking Mr O'Callaghan to give him a "success fee" of £300,000, explaining to him that he owed it to the Revenue. He said he was not prepared to talk about his relationship with the "revenue for prejudicial reasons", but there were ongoing discussions with them regarding all matters at the tribunal.

In a statement to the inquiry in July 2007, Mr O'Callaghan said he had promised to pay Mr Dunlop £300,000 sometime after December 1992. He also said that there was no truth in the suggestion that he paid Mr Dunlop "to tell a certain story to the tribunal or not to talk to the tribunal at all".

Mr Dunlop was contacted for the first time by the inquiry on October 6th, 1998, Ms Dillon said, but did not disclose payments to councillors or provide a narrative statement until April 2000.

She said that, in a phone call to the tribunal on October 13th, 1998, Mr Gilmartin said Mr O'Callaghan was "up in arms" about Mr Dunlop talking about Quarryvale to reporters.

Mr Dunlop said that was a "classic example of Gilmartin buffoonery and rubbish".

Judge Alan Mahon intervened to say that Mr Dunlop was not entitled to make such comments. However, Mr Dunlop responded that he wished the tribunal would demonstrate even-handedness when dealing with other people making comments.

Judge Mahon said no such issues had been raised by Mr Dunlop's lawyer.

Mr Dunlop said he wanted to put on the record that he regarded Mr Gilmartin "as a delusional buffoon".

"I will take the opportunity in another forum in due course to delineate exactly how various people were treated by this tribunal, notwithstanding any report that might issue from this tribunal itself," he said.