Mr George Redmond denied yesterday that he had an interest in land which almost tripled in value after it was rezoned from agricultural use.
He said there was no connection between £110,000 in loans he had extended to a publican, Mr Jim Kennedy, and a bookmaker, Mr Malachy Skelly, in 1980 and a dispute between Mr Skelly and Mr Kennedy shortly afterwards over the loan for a £110,000 investment in the Ballyowen Stud, Lucan, Co Dublin. The farm was bought for £1.3 million in 1980 and sold for £3.5 million in 1983.
Mr Redmond said he had made two separate loans in 1980. One, which was for £40,000, was given to Mr Kennedy and Mr Skelly jointly. The other, for £70,000, was paid to Mr Kennedy.
Mr Redmond said he had only met Mr Kennedy earlier the same year. He had met Mr Skelly a few times. "He had a very good national reputation at that time as a course bookie, I was very impressed with him."
Counsel for the tribunal, Mr Des O'Neill SC, asked Mr Redmond why he lent £70,000 to Mr Kennedy despite knowing him for less than a year and having no written agreement for the loan.
Mr Redmond agreed that there was no written agreement. He trusted Mr Skelly because he was a bookmaker. "I mean, they have their own code of honour in relation to these things."
Mr Kennedy also impressed him. "He was a very substantial publican at the time. Whatever, you know, powers people have over you and mesmerising you or otherwise, I was sufficiently impressed to do what I did."
Mr Redmond said the loans were also "a convenient way of disposing of cash".
Mr O'Neill said that Mr Skelly had later sued Mr Kennedy for £110,000 and interest. Mr Redmond replied: "Oh, I didn't know anything about that. Don't try to relate it to that 110 [thousand pounds]."
Mr O'Neill: "Why not?"
Mr Redmond: "Oh, for goodness' sake, Mr O'Neill."
Mr O'Neill asked Mr Redmond whether he knew that Mr Skelly alleged in the High Court that the £110,000 represented a loan in respect of a one-third deposit on the purchase of Ballyowen Stud and that there were to be three contributors to that deposit.
Mr Redmond replied: "I know nothing about that, nothing."
He said his loan to Mr Kennedy "was for purchase of an amusement arcade in Clondalkin".
He acknowledged that he did know the land was purchased by the Abbey Group, a company with which his friend, Mr Paddy Treacy, was associated. Mr Treacy had told him that the late Mr James Gallagher's son had bought the land.
"My own reaction to the purchase was that he must have been clean out of his mind . . . That land lay there for at least 10 or 12 years. It was an impossible piece of land."
Mr Redmond said he recalled Mr Kennedy complaining that because of tax, fees and holding charges there was "no profit" from the sale of the land. He said he did not take kindly to Mr O'Neill's suggestion that he had any equity in the venture.
