An Post says staff did not change address

The An Post investigation into whether former Fianna Fáil TD Mr Liam Lawlor was able to have a postal address changed in return for a financial contribution from a property developer, has exonerated An Post staff.

The investigation into claims by the property developer, Mr Séamus Ross of Menolly Homes, that Mr Lawlor asked him for more then €50,000 (£40,000) also found An Post made no decision to change the address of a housing estate from Clondalkin to Lucan.

The details of the investigation have been forwarded to the Mahon tribunal by An Post. It is understood An Post concluded that if the details of the alleged payment were correct, it was an unfortunate misunderstanding on Mr Ross's part, and one which had a happy outcome for Mr Lawlor.

Mr Lawlor has denied he ever received the payment or made any improper representations.

Last October Mr Ross told the tribunal that in 1996 rival builders in the area started telling their customers that Mr Ross's homes at Earlsfort were inferior because they were located in Clondalkin, not Lucan.

Mr Ross said he tested the matter by addressing letters to himself at his site office, addressed to Lucan. They were not delivered. He calculated the difference in address would lead to a difference in selling price of £5,000 for a three-bedroom house. He said he asked the postman about the situation and was told the letters wouldn't be delivered and would have to be collected at the post office. Mr Ross gave evidence to the tribunal that Mr Lawlor had offered to "look into it" and returned three or four days later and said: "I might have some good news for you. I can have the address put right for you. But you're going to have to pay me."

Yesterday, An Post said only that its investigations took longer than expected because of the difficulty in contacting staff, some of whom had retired. The company added that the report had been completed and forwarded to the tribunal but said further comment would be inappropriate pending the tribunal's deliberations.

However, sources told The Irish Times that An Post's position was that the address of Earlsfort, the housing estate built by Mr Ross, was always Lucan and had never been Clondalkin.

Current and retired An Post staff who were interviewed by a special investigating team are understood to have pointed out that a new sorting office being built in the area at the time was being built in Lucan and postal deliveries for a large number of new estates would be routed through it, giving the new homes Lucan addresses. In the case of Earlsfort there was never any question of changing the address: "It was Lucan then and remained so," said the source.

The investigation centred around whether Mr Lawlor would have been able to influence the decision of An Post to designate a 550 house development on the Clondalkin side of Lucan, as Lucan rather than Clondalkin.

Mr Ross said the politician asked for either £30,000 or £50,000. He said he could not believe it and told Mr Lawlor the amount was very high. "That's what it will cost you. That's what it's worth to your houses," Mr Lawlor is said to have replied. Mr Ross said he could pay £20,000 in cash, which Mr Lawlor accepted.

Mr Ross said the change allegedly arranged by Mr Lawlor was worth £5,000 a house to him, or a total of over £2.5 million. The payments were not political contributions, he said.

Mr Ross said the selling agent was later provided with a letter from An Post stating that the postal address was in Lucan.