Former FG councillor 'vindicated' by tribunal

The only Dublin councillor to resign from her party over the rezoning of land in the 1990s says she feels "vindicated" by the evidence emerging from the Flood tribunal.

Former Fine Gael councillor Ms Mary Muldoon says she was ostracised by her council colleagues for opposing a wave of rezoning motions proposed by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael members.

Ms Muldoon, a councillor for Rathfarnham for 14 years, says the behaviour of local representatives at the time was "sordid" and the Fine Gael leadership must have been aware of what was going on.

"I think there's a lot more to be uncovered and I don't think matters have improved appreciably since Dublin County Council was broken up," she says. "There was no logic to the rezoning that went on. The land would be miles from anywhere, the manager would say there were no services and you'd stand up to say your bit.

"But even before you uttered a word, you'd know that no one was interested, that they were up in Conway's \ and you'd see the nods and winks."

Fine Gael operated a "covert" whip system, she believes. Before 1991, the party's councillors met to decide its approach to rezonings, but after the election in that year, "there was no formalised meeting that I was privy to".

"Before 1991, there were a few 'old fogies' that could be counted upon to make up the numbers for Fianna Fáil but, after the election, Fianna Fáil didn't have a majority any more and had to form a cross-party strategic alliance to push the rezonings through."

She recalls the Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, giving his party's councillors a tongue-lashing over their behaviour, but says he threatened to make things worse.

Mr Bruton wanted councillors to act in a more co-ordinated fashion by agreeing their stance before rezoning motions were considered at the council. However, because the rezoners were in the majority, this meant that "everything would get through and I would have to vote for it", according to Ms Muldoon.

"There were some people in the party who were very conscientious but who went with the crowd because it was nice to be popular or to get the perks, but who never took a penny."

Ms Muldoon says she was "passed over" for the chair of South Dublin County Council and of the local VEC because of her stance. In 1996, after 22 years in the party, she resigned from Fine Gael and served as an independent until the elections of 1999.

She took early retirement from teaching and moved back to Co Mayo to look after her ageing father. "I'm very disillusioned with politics today. I don't have a very high view of Irish politics; I don't see any idealism there any more."

Today, as honorary chairwoman of the ISPCA, she devotes her energies to the cause of animal welfare.