Dunlop tells of 'improper' payment to Wright

Mr Frank Dunlop has told of a further "improper" payment he says he made to the Fianna Fáil TD Mr G.V. Wright.

Mr Dunlop alleges he gave the politician £2,500-£3,000 in cash during the Senate campaign in January 1993 because Mr Wright was "an important member of the council and would continue to be on an ongoing basis". Asked if he felt the payment was improper, he replied: "in my view, yes".

This is in addition to the £2,000 bribe Mr Dunlop alleges he passed to Mr Wright wrapped in newspaper in April or May 1993. The money was paid for Mr Wright's support for the rezoning of land at Drumnigh, near Portmarnock, in that year. Mr Wright denied this allegation after it emerged at the tribunal earlier this week.

Mr Wright has told the tribunal he received an unsolicited political donation of £3,000 from Mr Dunlop in October 1993. He says the money was to cover his election expenses over the preceding 12 months.

However, Mr Dunlop said yesterday he never gave any money to Mr Wright at this time. Why would he be making a political donation at this time, he asked. The last election was in January 1993. He couldn't see in what circumstances he would give money to any politician seven or eight months after an election.

He pointed out that he had given Mr Wright £5,000 at the time of the general election in November 1992, which the politician had acknowledged receiving. He also gave him the £2,500-£3,000 during the Senate campaign in January 1993.

Ms Patricia Dillon SC, for the tribunal, asked why Mr Dunlop had paid Cllr G.V. Wright £2,000 when he claimed that Cllr Wright was involved with earlier attempts to table a rezoning motion for the Drumnigh land but had "made a mess" of it.

If Mr Wright had asked for money in these circumstances, he was certainly "brave", she suggested.

Mr Dunlop said there was "a certain embarrassment" to Mr Wright's approach. He had never understood why Mr Wright hadn't been able to do what was "a reasonably easy job", simply by getting a map for the rezoning and getting council colleagues to sign it. Nonetheless, he had asked for money, saying "look, I need two grand for this".

He didn't want to "rub G.V.'s nose in it" because he had signed the motion and he was important to a lot of things that were going on in Dublin County Council. No matter how strange he thought the request, he agreed to pay the money.

After he first gave evidence to the tribunal about payments to politicians, Mr Dunlop said he was told by a third party that Mr Wright was saying that "Frank is f***ing me". But he agreed yesterday this was hearsay and Mr Wright had not said this to him directly.

Asked about his contacts with Cllr Michael Joe Cosgrave of Fine Gael and Cllr Liam Creaven of Fianna Fáil, the witness said he met the two politicians together frequently but they never asked him for money. They "invariably" supported his motions, he acknowledged. This has a "downside" in that people could say "Mickey Joe and Liam would support anything that Frank Dunlop was backing".

Mr Dunlop said he originally sought a £5,000 success fee from the landowner at Drumnigh, Mr Denis Mahony, after the lands were rezoned. When they met in February 1994, Mr Mahony became aggressive and asked whether all the money had been "used up". Mr Dunlop outlined the work he had done and Mr Mahony eventually agreed to pay him a further £2,000 on top of the £10,000 he received before the rezoning.