Liam Lawlor has accepted he received a total of £57,500 for his role in the failed attempt by a British property company to develop Quarryvale and Bachelor's Walk, the planning tribunal was told today.
In his opening statement on the Arlingon/Quarryvale module of the inquiry, Mr John Gallagher SC, said the tribunal will hear evidence from developer Mr Tom Gilmartin that the former Former Fianna Fáil West Dublin TD was at the centre of a web of payments to secure permission to develop the two sites in the late 1980s.
Lawlor accepts he received a total of £57,500 either directly or indirectly from Arlington Securities in the 1980s and 1990s, but insists the payments were always "political contributions". Mr Gallagher said the tribunal would inquire into whether these payments were legitimate political contributions, consultancy fees or corrupt payments.
Among the accusations to be levelled by Mr Gilmartin were that Lawlor demanded 20 per cent of all the profits "on behalf of the government", that he stormed into a London meeting demanding to be paid £100,000, that he tried to withdraw £10,000 from Mr Gilmartin's bank account without his permission and that he leaned on Mr Gilmartin to "take care of" Mr George Redmond.
Mr Gilmartin, who was originally from Co Sligo but had built up a substantial property business in England, decided in the late 1980s to invest in Dublin. He reached an agreement with Arlington Securities in 1987 to look into building a major centre on Bachelors Walk. They agreed he would be paid £250,000 and 20 per cent of all the profit in consultant's fees, he said.
He made inquiries in Dublin about the land and later became interested in developing the Quarryvale site. He asked his bank manager in the Bank of Ireland branch in Blanchardstown who he should contact about the Quarryvale lands and was told to talk to garage owner Mr Brendan Fassnidge, who arranged for him to meet Lawlor. Mr Gilmartin claims the TD told him at their first meeting that he had been appointed by the Government to "take care" of the Bachelors Walk development.
He said Lawlor agreed to help him in the planning process, but on condition he was paid. Lawlor allegedly demanded 20 per cent of all the profits of the developments "on behalf of the Government", which Mr Gilmartin refused. He says Mr Lawlor then asked him for half his profit from the deal, which he also refused.
Mr Gilmartin will claim the politician burst into a meeting of the Arlington board in London unannounced and demanded £100,000. They declined to pay, but agreed to pay him £3,500 per month in consultant's fees.
Lawlor denied storming into the Arlington meeting in London, saying he had attended two meetings "by invitation and arrangement".
Mr Gilmartin says he paid £35,000 through his bank accounts to Lawlor over the course of ten months, but stopped when Mr Lawlor arrived in his bank in March 1989 demanding he be paid £10,000 from Mr Gilmartin's account.
Mr Gilmartin claims he decided then not to pay Mr Lawlor any more fees. However, the tribunal has established that sums of £3,500 were paid monthly into bank accounts in the names of companies controlled by Lawlor, who was paid a total of £24,500 in this period.
