Gilmartin accused by counsel of making up evidence

Lawyers for Cork property developer Mr Owen O'Callaghan have accused Mr Tom Gilmartin of making up evidence to damage their client.

Mr Paul Sreenan SC, for Mr O'Callaghan, yesterday claimed Mr Gilmartin had added to his stories and had made "sensationalist" and untrue allegations against him.

However, Mr Gilmartin denied the claim and repeatedly referred to Mr O'Callaghan as a "crook". He claimed Mr O'Callaghan got the lobbyist Mr Frank Dunlop to pay councillors to ensure that Mr Gilmartin's plans to build a large shopping centre at Quarryvale "never got on the agenda".

Mr Gilmartin came up with the idea of building a shopping centre at Quarryvale but had to sell his stake to Mr O'Callaghan when the project encountered difficulties. Mr O'Callaghan subsequently developed it as the Liffey Valley Centre.

Yesterday Mr Sreenan said the witness had "made up on the spot" a serious claim that an agreement between the two developers had been falsified.

"That's a falsified agreement by your crook of a client," Mr Gilmartin responded.

But Mr Sreenan said the witness had also made up a claim that Mr O'Callaghan had boasted in 1988 about getting the line of the Lee tunnel changed to suit his lands at Mahon in Cork.

This couldn't be true as the decision to go ahead with the tunnel had not been made until 1991, counsel said. Mr O'Callaghan could not, therefore, have told Mr Gilmartin that he was at a dinner for the launch of the tunnel in 1988, as had been claimed.

Mr Gilmartin had "juggled" the facts in his mind after he moved down to Cork and had occasion to drive in the tunnel, Mr Sreenan claimed.

Mr Gilmartin responded that what Mr O'Callaghan had told him might have been "a load of baloney" as far as he knew. Mr O'Callaghan might have been talking "blarney"; he had nearly convinced him that Mr Ambrose Kelly was running An Bord Pleanála.

As for counsel's claim that he had changed his story, he replied: "I didn't pay Frank Dunlop, or pay councillors or have my money stolen to pay them".

Mr Sreenan accused the witness of "spoiling" the prospects for Mr O'Callaghan's shopping centre site at Balgaddy-Neilstown by advancing his project at nearby Quarryvale.

Once Mr Gilmartin promoted Quarryvale he "fatally damaged" the prospects for Balgaddy because tenants would rather be located in Quarryvale, counsel said.

However, Mr Gilmartin said Mr O'Callaghan had no interest in building at Balgaddy "other than to hold me to ransom".

At the time, Balgaddy was zoned as the town centre; however, Quarryvale was regarded as a better site because it was located at the axis of the Galway road and the proposed route for the M50.

Mr Gilmartin agreed with counsel that his plans for Quarryvale included the construction of a 1.5 million sq ft retail centre, a 400,000 sq ft retail warehouse and a 400,000 sq ft business park. He said he also had plans for an international business centre and hotel.

Mr Sreenan said the size proposed for the shopping centre was five times what was ultimately permitted. He asked how the developer proposed to get the go-ahead for such an enormous development when it didn't even have the correct zoning.

Mr Gilmartin said the Government had "more or less" guaranteed that the zoning would be changed to get this investment into the country. It even convened a meeting with county councillors to have the "roadblocks" removed.

Earlier Mr Conor Maguire SC, for the Taoiseach, said he was very concerned that the chairman had ruled that he acted improperly last Tuesday by introducing details of a 1978 court case involving Mr Gilmartin without giving notice.

Judge Alan Mahon said he now accepted that Mr Maguire had not acted improperly.