Mahon Tribunal: Businessman Mr Jim Kennedy boasted that he wasn't concerned about planning laws because he "knew" people in the planning office, a property surveyor has told the tribunal.
Mr Joseph Curtis was engaged to inspect a building on Westmoreland Street in the early 1990s on behalf of Sepes Establishment, its German owners. Mr Kennedy, the tenant, was running an amusement arcade on the premises.
Mr Curtis said his inspections revealed a number of breaches of fire safety and planning regulations arising from changes made to the building.
The basement of the building had been converted into an apartment, another apartment was created at the top of the building and the laneway at the rear had been blocked off and was being used as a private car park.
On one inspection in 1991, he found two small children sleeping in the downstairs apartment, which had a large kitchen and a fully fitted bathroom. He wrote to Mr Kennedy demanding that this use of the basement be discontinued. However, Mr Kennedy told him he "wasn't concerned about planning laws because he knew people in the planning office. He said there was no planning issue".
Mr Curtis said it was "rubbish" for Mr Kennedy to claim the development didn't need planning permission. With such a basement apartment, there was a risk of fire spreading up to the rest of the building; equally, a fire in the upper floors could result in people in the basement being trapped.
Mr Kennedy told him he had cleared the matter with the corporation's fire officer, but when Mr Curtis followed this up he was told the file had been lost. "The whole thing with the fire officer was very vague," he told the tribunal.
Mr Kennedy had claimed the fire officer was happy but he hadn't accepted this. There was no fire alarm or emergency lighting in the basement and the fire officer would have closed the building down immediately if he had seen it, he said.
The witness said Mr Kennedy had illegally "confiscated" for himself the lane at the back of the building. He had painted over the corporation's no parking lines and put up a gate.
When Mr Curtis tried to inspect the premises again in 1992, he was refused entry and told to come back at a later date. On the next occasion, he was refused entry again. Lawyers for Mr Kennedy later accused him of trespassing and threatened to sue.
Mr Curtis said his impression was that Mr Kennedy was in charge. He met Mr Kennedy's wife, Antoinette, but thought she was "just the cashier".
Ms Antoinette Kennedy has told the tribunal she ran the amusement arcade and her husband wasn't often on the premises.
Later yesterday, Mr Jude Campion, a former employee at the amusement arcade, repeated his allegation that Mr Kennedy regularly met Mr Liam Lawlor, Mr George Redmond and Mr John Caldwell on the premises.
Mr Redmond blocked plans by Mr Campion and his father to acquire a site for a filling station from Dublin County Council because they wouldn't pay him £100,000, he claimed.
However, Mr Lawlor, representing himself, called Mr Campion a "repetitive liar". The former TD said the reason the council wouldn't sell the site to the Campions was because the roads engineers were against it.
Mr Campion replied that Mr Redmond had the power to overrule the engineers. He claimed the official caused "much distress" to his father, who suffered a major stroke within a week of witnessing Mr Redmond leaving the office of a solicitor who was working for the Campions.
Mr Campion also claimed he got multiple sclerosis as a result of the "severe stress" caused by Mr Redmond's actions.
The tribunal has now finished hearing evidence in the Carrickmines module.
