Former FF councillor says Dunlop 'concocted' diary entries

Mahon tribunal: Former Fianna Fáil councillor Colm McGrath has accused lobbyist Frank Dunlop of "manufacturing" and "concocting" phone records and diary entries that were submitted to the Mahon tribunal.

Giving evidence yesterday, Mr McGrath described Mr Dunlop as "a totally unreliable witness" and someone whose credibility was shredded and who had done irreparable damage to people's reputations.

Mr McGrath was among a number of councillors who Mr Dunlop had initially identified to the tribunal as being "the usual recipients" who received money from him in connection with the rezoning of 24-acres of land near Dublin airport in 1993.

However, in a later statement about this property, known as the Cargobridge lands, Mr Dunlop did not list Mr McGrath as having received any payments.

Mr McGrath said he had had no dealings with Mr Dunlop regarding Cargobridge and could not recall any phone calls with the lobbyist on this issue.

He also said that he did not know Michael McGuinness, a director of the Cargobridge consortium that owned the lands, and who had canvassed councillors on the rezoning plan.

Asked about records of calls to Mr Dunlop's office, Mr McGrath said he strongly suspected the lobbyist had concocted the phone log given to the tribunal.

Mr McGrath said he "was not accepting any of the diary entries as being totally true or his [ Mr Dunlop's] phone call records as being totally true".

He said there had been a significant level of contact with Mr Dunlop but not on the issue of Cargobridge.

Mr McGrath indicated that the Cargobridge rezoning had been widely supported by councillors because it would create a significant employment platform and because they were sceptical about Aer Rianta, which strongly opposed the move.

"A lot of us were not happy with the zealousness [ of] the Aer Rianta people. We felt that they were exaggerating the potential dangers that were being presented by the development of these lands.

"We felt it ironic in light of the fact that they themselves developed lands nearer the airport with much larger buildings," he said.

Mr McGrath said Aer Rianta seemed to adopt a very protectionist attitude to the airport and the surrounding lands.

Meanwhile, former Fianna Fáil councillor Sean Gilbride has denied completely claims by Mr Dunlop that he received money in relation to Cargobridge.

Mr Gilbride said he had no recollection of being canvassed or lobbied by anyone in relation to the Cargobridge lands.

He accepted that he had previously told the tribunal that he had had dealings with Mr Dunlop about the project.

However, he was now satisfied that this was incorrect.

Mr Dunlop has alleged that Mr Gilbride received a composite payment of £2,000 to cover a number of projects.