Haughey rumours prevented rezoning, inquiry told

Rumours that the late taoiseach Charles Haughey had an interest in land at the former Baldoyle racecourse in north Dublin prevented property developer John Byrne from securing rezoning for the land, the tribunal was told.

Mr Byrne acquired 511 acres of land, which was originally part of the Baldoyle racecourse, in the 1960s and 1970s. He made various unsuccessful attempts to have Dublin County Council rezone the land and to secure planning permission for residential development up to the mid-1980s.

In 1984 An Bord Pleanála refused permission to Mr Byrne's company Endcamp Ltd to develop the lands. Following this refusal Mr Byrne stopped making applications in his own name and entered into agreements which involved other parties promoting rezoning for the land.

The intermediaries used were introduced to Mr Byrne by the late Liam Lawlor. The tribunal is examining why Mr Byrne tried to hide his connection with the development and attempted rezoning of the land.

Mr Byrne's solicitor John Gore Grimes told the tribunal yesterday that he believed Mr Byrne could not secure permission to develop the land because of an "untruth" perpetuated he said "by the media" that Mr Haughey had some involvement in the land.

"No matter what we did to show that that was not the case, and I am absolutely satisfied that it was not the case and never was the case, it was not accepted. People simply got it into their minds and that untruth could not be shifted."

Mr Gore Grimes said he could not prove this was the reason Mr Byrne was refused permission, but he said at that time planning permission was "more political" than it currently is and Mr Byrne came to the conclusion that he would have "no opportunity ever of getting planning permission on that land".

This was why Mr Byrne decided to "move sideways" and "shed all responsibility for applying for planning permission and to have nothing to do with the planning permission, if that was possible".

Mr Byrne entered into a four-year "option agreement" on the land with Jim Kennedy, introduced to him by Mr Lawlor. Under the agreement formalised in 1991, Mr Kennedy would pay £30,000 per acre if the option to buy was taken up before 1995 and £37,500 post 1995.

Mr Gore Grimes said that while the price might seem "quite ludicrous now it was a nice sum at the time".

Mr Gore Grimes said he was not aware to the extent of Mr Lawlor's involvement in the land. At the time of the option agreement he had not known that Mr Lawlor was associated with Mr Kennedy and became aware of the fact only when Mr Byrne tried to extract himself from the option arrangement.

He said he never knew that Mr Lawlor held shares in Mr Kennedy's company. Asked if he knew why Mr Lawlor wrote letters to the council and the planning board using Mr Byrne's home address, Mr Gore Grimes said he had "no idea".