Tribunal told of Dunlop 'incentive' fee

Mr Frank Dunlop received a £30,000 "incentive fee" for lobbying county councillors to rezone land in south Dublin on behalf of three prominent businessmen, the tribunal has heard.

Mr Brian O'Halloran, an architect who owned the 22 acres of land at Carrickmines along with businessmen Mr Gerard Kilcoyne and Prof Austin Darragh, said he also paid Mr Dunlop a total of £6,500 in ordinary professional fees during the 1990s.

In his statement, Mr O'Halloran lists payments totalling £4,000 to Fianna Fáil and £500 to Fine Gael, as well as smaller sums to individual politicians. But he insisted that these were normal political contributions, unrelated to any specific planning purpose.

Mr Dunlop has told the tribunal he never discussed the possibility of making payments to politicians with the three owners of the land. This contrasted with his evidence regarding the owners of the Jackson Way land, which adjoins the property owned by the three businessmen.

Mr O'Halloran listed the contributions he made to various politicians in the 1990s. These included payments of £100 and £250 to Cllr Larry Butler of Fianna Fáil, £100 and £150 to Cllr Betty Coffey, Fianna Fáil, and £250 to Ms Mary McAleese during the 1997 presidential election campaign.

He also paid £100 to a Fianna Fáil Christmas draw, £500 to Fine Gael and four cheques of £1,000 each to Fianna Fáil golf classics between 1997 and 2000.

In 1978 Mr O'Halloran, Mr Kilcoyne and Prof Darragh joined together to buy the land at Carrickmines for £130,000. All were living in the area and could see its development potential in the long term.

The new owners inherited a covenant which restricted building on land owned by a neighbour, Mr Bob Treacy, to one house on over 100 acres. Mr Treacy then sold his holding to Mr James Kennedy, who is believed to be the beneficial owner of Jackson Way.

Mr O'Halloran said he had dozens of meetings with Mr Kennedy about their respective lands.

He wished to lift the covenant in return for greater access to their land. Mr Kennedy made an offer for the three men's property, but they turned it down.

In 1990 the sides reached agreement under which the covenant would be raised in return for access, provided the lands were rezoned within 2.5 years.

Alternatively, Mr Kennedy would pay £250,000 to have the covenant lifted.

Mr Dunlop was paid £1,500 by the three land-owners for his efforts during the 1992-93 rezoning attempt. If the rezoning proved successful, he would be paid an additional £8,500 "incentive fee".

Mr O'Halloran approached Cllr Coffey to sign the rezoning motion, but she told him bluntly she couldn't. Mr Dunlop then approached Cllr Tom Hand, who agreed to sign it. Cllr Charles O'Connor also signed the motion.

"I never discussed with Mr Dunlop how he went about his work or who he talked to," Mr O'Halloran says in his statement. As the rezoning failed by two votes Mr Dunlop's fee was not paid.

Mr O'Halloran said Mr Dunlop had been retained because of his reputation for getting things done. However, after the 1992 attempt to rezone the lands failed, they were left disappointed, dissatisfied and disillusioned with the outcome.

In 1997 the three land-owners tried once again to rezone the land. Once again they approached Mr Dunlop. It was agreed the lobbyist would be paid £5,000, plus an "incentive fee" of £30,000 should the rezoning go through.

Mr O'Halloran said he was confident this time that Mr Dunlop was giving them the attention they expected.

On the recommendation of a council official, they approached neighbouring land-owners about making a joint submission. Jackson Way's solicitors invited them to include some of its land in the rezoning motion, and the two adjoining land-owners reached agreement on the covenant issue.

However, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Council said 10 acres of their land would be required for floodwater attenuation by the motorway. This reduced the amount of land subject to the rezoning from 47 acres to 36.

The motion was carried by 13 votes to 11. Even though not all their land had been rezoned, the three land-owners decided to pay the agreed incentive fee to Mr Dunlop. Each man paid £10,000.