Tribunal hears of £8.7m Gilmartin payment

Mahon tribunal:A payment of £8.7 million to property developer Tom Gilmartin was agreed when he pulled out of the Quarryvale project in 1996, the Mahon tribunal heard yesterday.

It included a claim of £150,000 for political donations, the tribunal was told.

Mr Gilmartin's evidence to the Quarryvale II module of the planning tribunal finished yesterday and his cross examination by counsel for various parties, including Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, will commence today.

Mr Gilmartin told the tribunal yesterday that by December 1995, all he wanted to do was "extract" his money from the Quarryvale project.

He employed solicitor Noel Smyth to negotiate a settlement on his behalf with AIB and developer Owen O'Callaghan, who owned 20 per cent and 40 per cent of the project respectively.

The tribunal heard that Mr Smyth threatened that Mr Gilmartin would take a case and subpoena former taoiseach Albert Reynolds to give evidence, if Mr Gilmartin did not get his money.

Mr Smyth wrote to the bank and Mr O'Callaghan, outlining the money due to his client, including £150,000 for political donations in connection with the project, the tribunal heard.

Tribunal counsel, Pat Quinn SC, queried the figure, saying that Mr Gilmartin had given evidence that he only made one donation to Fianna Fail in 1989, of £50,000.

Mr Gilmartin said he could not explain the figure. "I never made any other political contribution," he said.

The £8.7 million settlement on Mr Gilmartin was reached in May, 1996. The sum included over £1 million in damages.

"It was agreed by the bank and by Mr O'Callaghan that you were entitled to damages," Mr Quinn noted.

He also quoted from an internal AIB document in relation to the agreement, which said Mr Gilmartin had always been "difficult and irrational". Mr Gilmartin said he did not accept this.

Cross examination of Mr Gilmartin, to begin today, will be initiated by counsel for Mr O'Callaghan, Paul Sreenan SC.

Mr O'Callaghan became a partner in the Quarryvale project with Mr Gilmartin in the autumn of 1991 after, according to Mr Gilmartin, being brought in on the deal by AIB bank.

A considerable amount of Mr Gilmartin's evidence was based on what he alleges Mr O'Callaghan had told him about his connections with and payments to politicians.

These include claims that Mr O'Callaghan had paid Bertie Ahern £50,000 and £30,000 in connection with Quarryvale, and Albert Reynolds had been paid £150,000 after a dinner in Cork.

Counsel for others named by Mr Gilmartin in connection with Quarryvale II, including counsel for Mr Ahern, Conor Maguire SC, will carry out their cross examination after Mr Sreenan.

A letter from former South Dublin County Council (SDCC) and Dublin City Council manager John Fitzgerald was read into the record. He denied claims, made last week, that he had an arrangement with Mr O'Callaghan to lift the limit on retail development at Quarryvale, once he became manager of SDCC.

"There was no agreement of any kind between Mr O'Callaghan and me . . . because the quantum of retail space was always subject to the cap imposed by the council members of Dublin County Council and could only be altered or removed by decision of the council members," Mr Fitzgerald said.