FORMER GOVERNMENT press secretary and lobbyist Frank Dunlop has suffered enough through his admitted involvement in corruption and should not be jailed, his lawyers have told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
A cardiologist told the court that Dunlop (62), of Rathbeggan, Dunboyne, Co Meath, suffers from a serious heart condition, while his former barrister emphasised Dunlop’s willingness to co-operate with the planning tribunal after his dramatic admission of involvement in corruption before the inquiry in 2000.
Judge Frank O’Donnell, after hearing the pleas of mitigation made by Dunlop’s legal team, put back sentencing until next Tuesday. The former lobbyist, who was placed on continuing bail until next week, faces a sentence of up to seven years in jail and/or a fine of €50,000.
Aidan Redmond, barrister, for Dunlop, said his client had paid an enormous price for his involvement in planning corruption. Urging the judge not to impose a custodial sentence, he said: “He has been punished beyond all manner of means and will continue to be so.”
He contrasted Dunlop’s approach to that of the politicians he alleges he bribed. While Dunlop knew the “the day would come” when he would end up in court, “the people who have run and hid adopted the bizarre approach of saying ‘you didn’t do anything wrong’.”
Dunlop remained alone before the court while the politicians continued with their denials, his counsel said.
He added that since 2000, when Dunlop started co-operating with the tribunal, his client had furnished 33 affidavits and provided thousands of documents. In that time, he had lost his business and his friends. He had given it all up because he knew “the game was up”.
Det Garda Martin Harrington of the Criminal Assets Bureau told the court that Dunlop had been of great assistance to Cab’s inquiries into planning corruption. The only admission of wrongdoing had come from Dunlop himself. The politicians involved had either denied the payments or said they were political donations.
Garda Harrington said Cab had interviewed 60 people over four months as part of its investigations into the rezoning of lands in Carrickmines owned first by Paisley Park Investments and then Jackson Way Properties. Dunlop had outlined how he was engaged by businessman James Kennedy to secure the rezoning of this land. Mr Kennedy always gave the impression he owned the land and said councillors would have to be paid for their support, according to Mr Dunlop. Dunlop has alleged he was paid £25,000 in cash in relation to a first unsuccessful attempt to rezone the land in 1992 and agreed a fee of one commercial acre in return for a second, partially successful attempt to rezone it in 1997.
Garda Harrington said Dunlop played a crucial role in Cab’s efforts to apply to the High Court under proceeds of crime legislation in relation the Jackson Way lands. His evidence was fundamental to that case and he had agreed to give evidence in court.
Garda Harrington also outlined the payments Dunlop says he made to politicians as well as detailing his career as a journalist, government press secretary and lobbyist.
Consultant cardiologist Prof Declan Sugrue said Dunlop suffered from complex premature coronary disease. His three main arteries had blockages and a stent had been inserted.
Mr Sugrue, who has been treating Mr Dunlop for the past two years, said he believed emotional stress associated with the legal matters faced by his patient had an important bearing on the development of his heart condition. Asked about the prognosis, he said that while it was difficult to be specific, Dunlop’s “longevity” would probably be affected.
Colm Allen SC, who represented Dunlop during his early appearances at the tribunal, said he was incandescent with rage when he discovered that his client had misled his legal team about a secret bank account used for planning payments.
However, since that day in April 2000 when tribunal chairman Mr Justice Feargus Flood told him to reflect on his evidence, Dunlop had given his total and full co-operation to the inquiry.
On that day, Spy Wednesday, Dunlop had to be “half-carried, half-dragged” from the witness box to his car, Mr Allen said. Afterwards, he disintegrated mentally and physically and was now enduring a “life sentence” as a social pariah.
“This man can go nowhere. He has no real life since Easter Wednesday when he came clean.”
Dunlop was originally charged with 16 counts of bribing Dublin county councillors and pleaded last January to five sample counts of corruption.
He admits handing over money to politicians at different locations in Dublin, including Buswells and Davenport hotels, both a short walk from the Dáil, and St John of God’s Hospital.
He has pleaded guilty to giving £3,000 to former Fianna Fáil senator Don Lydon at St John of God’s Hospital in Dublin; £2,000 to Fianna Fáil councillor Colm McGrath and £1,000 to Fianna Fáil councillor Seán Gilbride, all in 1992, in relation to the rezoning of lands at Carrickmines for development.
He also pleaded guilty to giving money to former Fine Gael senator Liam Cosgrave at Buswells Hotel in Dublin in 1997, and a further sum of money to Fianna Fáil councillor Tony Fox the same year,also in relation to the Carrickmines lands.
