Lobbyist Frank Dunlop has said he had significant contacts with Brian Cowen when he was Minister for Transport in the mid-1990s regarding the provision of a right of way across State land to a property owned by a business consortium near Dublin airport.
However he told the Mahon tribunal yesterday that there was nothing wrong in this as he had lobbied many ministers on many issues over the years.
Mr Dunlop said the issue of the access to the land belonging to the consortium, known as Cargobridge, had not been on his radar until after it had been successfully rezoned for industry by Dublin County Council in late September 1993. He accepted that that correspondence indicated that he had had an earlier conversation with Mr Cowen about the right of way but that he had no recollection of this.
Mr Dunlop also agreed that he had not told the tribunal about his involvement with Mr Cowen about the right of way issue until 2004. He said that he had not considered it to be of relevance.
Mr Dunlop said that he had been retained by the consortium in February 1993 to assist in securing the rezoning of the 24 acres of land. He said that a director of the consortium, Michael McGuinness, had given him £10,000 (€12,700) cash in a briefcase in his office for his assistance in the rezoning bid.
He later received a further £2,500 from another director. He said Mr McGuinness had been aware that some of the money might have to be disbursed to councillors.
Mr Dunlop said that initially he had asked Mr McGuinness to pay the money into his offshore account in Jersey. However Mr McGuinness had said that his accountant warned that this "would stick out like a sore thumb". The lobbyist said Mr McGuinness had already carried out extensive canvassing of councillors and there was cross-party support for the project.
Mr Dunlop said he believed that he had been brought on board to "bed down" this support for the plan. He said he had made payments to three Fianna Fáil councillors in relation to the Cargobridge lands.
He said Cllr Tony Fox had told him that he had been canvassed by Mr McGuinness, that he supported the plan, but that he had "got nothing". Mr Dunlop said that following a discussion he had given Mr Fox £1,000.
He said Cllr Seán Gilbride also indicated that he backed the rezoning. The lobbyist said that, in discussions, Mr Gilbride had said that he had supported a number of projects but had not received anything. He said he had given Mr Gilbride £2,000 as a composite payment to cover a number of projects.
Mr Dunlop said he gave £1,000 to the late Cllr Cyril Gallagher to keep him "on-side". He said that Mr Gallagher had signed the rezoning motion but there were fears that he had "been nobbled by Aer Rianta" which strongly opposed the plan. He said that if Mr Gallagher's support was lost it could affect other people, as he represented the airport area.
He said that after the rezoning vote he had been approached by Mr McGuinness about the right of way as the owners realised that the land, which only had agricultural access, would be "pathetically useless" without it.
Mr Dunlop said around this time he had had many contacts with Mr Cowen as he was privately advising the then executive chairman of Aer Lingus, Bernie Cahill, on a plan to buy the airline. However he had no recollection of raising the Cargobridge right of way issue.
Mr Dunlop said that when he was asked to contact Mr Cowen he did not receive any additional money and considered it to be an extension of his earlier work for the company.
