Former Fianna Fáil councillor Seán Gilbride has denied receiving £12,000 from lobbyist Frank Dunlop in 1991.
He told the Mahon tribunal however that he was given a donation of £2,000 by Mr Dunlop and that he also received £15,500 from Cork developer Owen O'Callaghan in monthly instalments while he took a career break from teaching.
Mr Gilbride was consistently supportive of the Quarryvale project, the tribunal heard, and had been named by Mr Dunlop as part of the strategy team behind it.
The former Fianna Fáil councillor said he met Luton-based developer Tom Gilmartin in late 1990. Mr Gilmartin was trying to get his Quarryvale project in west Dublin off the ground. They were both from Sligo, Mr Gilbride said, and he agreed he would help him advance the project.
He said Mr Gilmartin was under the impression that the government could give the project the go-ahead.
"He didn't seem to understand the way things were done in Ireland," Mr Gilbride said.
Counsel for the tribunal, Patricia Dillon SC, asked him if he had heard Mr Gilmartin complain about councillors looking for money. He said he had not.
However, he said, Mr Gilmartin did tell him that the late Liam Lawlor was being paid by a company with which Mr Gilmartin had been involved, Arlington Securities Ltd, at Bachelors Walk.
Ms Dillon said the information must have put him on red alert. "That must have caused every alarm bell in your political antennae to go off."
She asked Mr Gilbride if he was surprised at the revelation.
"It was mentioned and that was it," Mr Gilbride responded. He also said that in interview with the Garda inquiry into planning corruption in 1993, he did not mention that he was aware of the payments to Mr Lawlor. He said he was never asked.
Mr O'Callaghan became involved in Mr Gilmartin's Quarryvale project in late 1990 and Mr Dunlop was employed to lobby for the advancement of the project, the tribunal had heard.
Mr Gilbride said he did not receive a payment of £12,000 from Mr Dunlop for his support of Quarryvale before the local elections in June 1991.
He said Mr Dunlop called out to his house and gave him £2,000 cash as a political donation. He denied being part of the strategy team behind Quarryvale, but said he did attend meetings in Mr Dunlop's office with Mr Lawlor, Mr O'Callaghan and councillors including Colm McGrath.
Mr Gilbride told the tribunal that in summer 1992, he asked Mr O'Callaghan to support him while he took time off from his teaching career to run for the upcoming general election. Mr O'Callaghan agreed and paid him £1,750 a month from September 1992 to April 1993, which included a one-off payment of £5,000 for extra expenses in January 1993.
However, Mr Gilbride was not selected to run for the November 1992 general election or for the Seanad election the following year, the tribunal heard.
Mr Gilbride said he did not discuss the payments from Mr O'Callaghan with any of his fellow councillors before a crucial vote on Quarryvale, in December 1992.
"At the time I didn't think there was any need for it," he said.
Mr Gilbride denied that he was lobbying councillors to support Quarryvale because Mr O'Callaghan had paid him. He said he had supported the project from the beginning and had never asked Mr Gilmartin for money.
Fine Gael councillor Michael J Cosgrave said he was given a donation of £1,000 by Mr Dunlop in 1993. He said he was consistently supportive of the Quarryvale development. "If you look at it today, it's an excellent development," he said. "I don't think I was wrong in supporting it."
