Inquiry told Lowry sought favour for Dunne

The estate agent and former Fine Gael trustee Mr Mark FitzGerald said Mr Michael Lowry sought to influence a rent review of an 85,000-square-foot office block owned by Mr Ben Dunne.

Mr FitzGerald said the inference he drew from the conversation he had with Mr Lowry at the time was that Mr Dunne was due a favour because he had made significant donations to the party. Mr Lowry, in a statement of intended evidence, said he accepted that the two men discussed the rent review but rejected the suggestion that he sought to have the rent increased.

Mr FitzGerald said Mr Lowry told him Mr Dunne wanted an increase in rent from £5 a square foot to £10 a square foot.

Tribunal counsel Mr Jerry Healy said the increase would have raised the annual rent roll from £450,000 to £900,000 a year with an associated increase in the capital value of the building.

Mr FitzGerald, an estate agent with Sherry Fitzgerald, was a trustee of Fine Gael from 1991 to June of last year.

He is the son of the former Taoiseach Dr Garret FitzGerald, who was present for much of yesterday's hearing.

Mr Lowry was chairman of the board of trustees from 1993.

In the period up to Fine Gael entering government in December 1994, Mr FitzGerald said he recalled only two individual meetings with Mr Lowry.

In late March or early April 1995, Mr Lowry telephoned Mr FitzGerald on his mobile phone, the first time Mr Lowry had called him on his mobile.

Mr Lowry asked if "a man called Gill" working in Sherry FitzGerald estate agents was involved in a building off O'Connell Street, Dublin, where Telecom Éireann was the tenant.

Mr FitzGerald said Mr Gordon Gill was a member of his firm but he did not know what the then minister was referring to. He said he would inquire.

Mr Lowry said he would be in touch again.

When Mr FitzGerald telephoned Mr Gill, he was told that he, Mr Gill, had just been appointed arbitrator in relation to a rent review on Marlborough House, Marlborough Street, Dublin.

Mr FitzGerald did not consider it appropriate to discuss the matter further and he ended the phone call.

A short time later, Mr Lowry telephoned him, this time at his office, and asked him to meet him in Powers Hotel, Kildare Street. The two men met for coffee an hour or two later.

Mr Lowry told him that Marlborough House had recently been bought by Mr Dunne and that Mr Dunne had been in touch with him and wanted to get the rent up from £5 a square foot to £10 a square foot.

Mr FitzGerald said Mr Lowry said to him that "your man Gill" was involved and "could I organise it".

"I told Mr Lowry emphatically that I could not and would not and I referred to Mr Gill's independent role as an arbitrator. Mr Lowry then asked what 'we' were going to do and Ben Dunne had contributed £170,000 to Fine Gael.

"I told Mr Lowry that that was the first I had heard of that contribution and that he should not pursue this matter further." Mr FitzGerald said that a very short time after the meeting he got another call from Mr Lowry. The minister said he wanted to buy a house but wanted to keep a low profile. He was interested in a mews house for sale through Sherry FitzGerald in Palmerston Close, off Palmerston Road. The two men arranged to meet the next day. Mr FitzGerald went to the Orwell Lodge, Rathgar, to meet Mr Lowry as requested by the minister. Mr Lowry arrived in his State car. The minister got into Mr FitzGerald's car and Mr FitzGerald drove him to the house, which was about a mile away. They met the Sherry FitzGerald agent at the house. There were no further dealings with the minister on the house.

On the way back to the minister's office, Mr Lowry again raised the issue of Marlborough House. Mr FitzGerald said this occurred as they were driving down Dawson Street. "I was again emphatic that I could not and would not intervene with Mr Gill in his function as arbitrator." He said he was "exceptionally emphatic".

Mr FitzGerald said that a month or two later he learned that the rent on Marlborough House had been increased from £5 to just over £6 a square foot.