Solicitor 'sidelined' on land deal details

Mahon Tribunal: A solicitor who handled the conveyancing of the Coolamber land currently under investigation by the tribunal has told how he was "sidelined" from the transaction.

Mr Andy Madden, a partner of Cahill and Co, said he was excluded from information that could have had major repercussions for the contract.

Mr Madden was engaged by a builder, Mr Joe Tiernan, to handle the purchase of 55 acres of land at Coolamber, near Lucan in west Dublin.

In the early 1990s, Mr Tiernan bought the land for almost £3 million from a company linked to former Fianna Fáil TD Mr Liam Lawlor, solicitor Mr John Caldwell and businessman Mr Jim Kennedy.

Yesterday, Mr Madden described Mr Tiernan as a serious builder and a formidable client. Mr Tiernan didn't tell him "an awful lot" or impart much information to him. He simply told the solicitor what he wanted done.

He thought Mr Tiernan was being "paranoid in the extreme" in telling him to renew a priority search on the property at the Land Registry every 14 days.

This had the effect of blocking other potential buyers from competing for the property.

The witness said he believed Mr Tiernan thought Vino Properties, the offshore company from which he was buying the land, might try to "pull a trick" on him.

Since the contract was signed, the land had become more valuable and Mr Tiernan was afraid Vino would pull out of the deal.

He agreed with Mr Des O'Neill SC, for the tribunal, that his firm could have found itself "on the line" if difficulties arose and Mr Tiernan was shown to be "a man of straw".

He agreed that he had been "sidelined" from much of the transaction by his principal, Mr Finbarr Cahill, and didn't know what was going on.