A Dublin architect told the Flood tribunal yesterday that neither he nor his two part-owners of land in Carrickmines would be involved in under-handed business and they would not pay officials or councillors to secure rezoning.
Mr Brian O'Halloran bought the 22 acres with Dr Austin Darragh and Mr Gerard Kilcoyne.
They employed Mr Frank Dunlop to lobby councillors in 1992 when they wanted the land rezoned but failed and again in 1997 when the motion was successful. On the second occasion, they paid him £5,000 plus a £30,000 success fee.
Yesterday, Mr O'Halloran said he had never been aware of corruption. His counsel, Mr George Bermingham SC, said no one had the authority to make payments on behalf of Mr O'Halloran or his partners. He asked what view Mr O'Halloran took and what was his reaction to what he had heard about payments to secure votes.
He said: "Annoyance, disappointment and concern. I would like to think that I would not be silly enough, stupid enough, to put my practice, my livelihood, and the livelihoods of those people who work for me at risk, just to get a rezoning on a small piece of land."
He said he and his colleagues in 1997 thought that if they failed in rezoning they could try again. "There was no way we would be involved in any underhanded business. We certainly did not and would not."
Earlier, Mr Pat Quinn SC, for the tribunal, asked Mr O'Halloran if he had ever paid anyone to secure the rezoning of lands. Mr O'Halloran replied: "No."
Mr Quinn: "Did you ever give money to someone to pass on to secure rezoning?" Mr O'Halloran: "I wouldn't dream of it." Asked if he or his partners paid officials or councillors to secure the rezoning of lands, he replied: "There's no question of us doing that."
The tribunal chairman, Mr Justice Flood, asked Mr O'Halloran when he had begun his practice as an architect. He said he started in 1969. The chairman asked if he was ever aware of any modus operandi on how to go about getting councillors to support applications. Mr O'Halloran said: "No."
Mr Quinn asked Mr O'Halloran about the level of communication he had with Mr James Kennedy, who had an interest in the adjoining Jackson Way lands and who had also employed Mr Dunlop.
Mr O'Halloran said there was contact but he did not tell Mr Kennedy more than he should know. Mr Quinn asked if he had regular contact with Mr Kennedy in the run up to the rezoning vote in 1997 and if he had built up a special relationship "No, arm's length - in fact arm-and-a-half arm's length," re replied.
Mr Quinn said submissions for rezoning were all done jointly with Jackson Way. However, in June 1999, there were separate submissions for the action area plan.
"Following on the 1997 rezoning decision," Mr O'Halloran said, "my contact with Mr Kennedy petered out. It became clear that Jackson Way was caught up in legal complications with the county council and there were dark clouds descending over Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council and Jackson Way."
He and his two partners decided they wanted to go their own way, he said. Mr Quinn said in 2000, Mr O'Halloran and his partners were concerned about adverse publicity and wrote to the council to distance themselves from Jackson Way.