FORMER EU commissioner Pádraig Flynn said he never discussed tax designation status for the Quarryvale development with developer Tom Gilmartin.
Mr Flynn said he could not recall what he discussed with Mr Gilmartin at private meetings in 1989 and 1990 when he was minister for the environment, but he was sure tax designation for Mr Gilmartin's Quarryvale development in west Dublin, now the Liffey Valley Shopping Centre, was not discussed.
Tax designation would have given a number of advantages to the development, including increased tax allowances and rate-free holidays for tenants. The tribunal had heard that Mr Gilmartin believed his development would get tax designation. He had told three banks that he had government backing and he was confident of tax designation status.
Counsel for the tribunal Patricia Dillon SC asked Mr Flynn what he discussed with Mr Gilmartin. Mr Flynn said the meetings were courtesy calls and if Quarryvale was mentioned, it was only in relation to buying the land. Ms Dillon said there were no notes taken at the meetings and there were no civil servants present.
"It was not my custom to dictate notes of casual meetings with the hundreds of people who came to see me week in, week out," Mr Flynn said.
Ms Dillon said Mr Flynn had meetings with Mr Gilmartin and "the contemporaneous documents suggest Mr Gilmartin believed he was getting status".
"I never discussed the status," Mr Flynn said.
Judge Gerald Keys asked Mr Flynn what the meetings with Mr Gilmartin were for. Mr Flynn said Mr Gilmartin would say things were going well and he would say "keep it up".
"Why would he be coming to you to tell you that?" Judge Keys asked, saying it appeared Mr Gilmartin, a busy developer, was wasting his time and giving Mr Flynn a large donation. "Why do you think he paid you £50,000?" Judge Keys asked.
"To help me get elected and support my political campaign," Mr Flynn said.
"In a part of the country that he wasn't getting developed?" the judge responded.
