Haughey at Baldoyle meeting, tribunal told

Former taoiseach Charles Haughey attended a meeting with local authority engineers in Dublin in the early 1970s to support a plan put forward by developer John Byrne to redevelop the former Baldoyle racecourse, the Mahon tribunal heard yesterday.

Former Dublin chief engineer Kevin O'Donnell said Mr Haughey had been part of a deputation that included Mr Byrne, as well as his architects and other professional advisers, which discussed a project to be known as Sea City. He said that this involved the development of the Baldoyle racecourse from the Willie Nolan Road northwards.

Mr O'Donnell said he presumed that Mr Haughey was there as support for Mr Byrne. He said Mr Haughey had not contributed very much to the meeting.

He said that on another occasion when driving back from a lunch with Mr Haughey regarding a separate matter, the politician had asked him a few questions about Baldoyle.

"It was quite perfunctory", he said.

Senior counsel for the tribunal, Des O'Neill, said there had been evidence that Mr Byrne believed that there was some prejudice against his project in Baldoyle because of a possible identification of it with Mr Haughey.

Mr O'Donnell said that his decision-making had not been affected by the presence of Mr Haughey at the meeting.

He said that the project could not have been permitted on engineering grounds in relation to sewage, drainage and flooding.

Meanwhile, Joan Clarke, former secretary to the late Liam Lawlor, said that the politician had asked her to type letters purportedly from Mr Byrne. She said she had a vague recollection of being handed a blank sheet with the letterhead of Mr Byrne's home already printed on it.

The tribunal heard some of the letters, regarding a proposed development in Baldoyle, were sent to officials in Dublin County Council and An Bord Pleanála.