Lydon denies accepting bribe from Dunlop

Senator Don Lydon has denied asking Mr Frank Dunlop for a £5,000 bribe in return for supporting a motion to rezone lands owned by Paisley Park at Carrickmines, Co Dublin, in 1992.

Mr Dunlop has said in his evidence to the Flood tribunal he eventually paid Mr Lydon £3,000.

Mr Lydon, who is a clinical psychologist at St John of God's hospital in Stillorgan as well as a county councillor and Fianna Fail senator, insisted at the tribunal this morning Mr Dunlop had fabricated the story, as it "may suit him to do so".

He said that during his work with victims of sexual abuse, he frequently found they invented memories and created scenarios of what they believed had happened to them, but this may not necessarily be true.

This, he argued, may well be the case with Mr Dunlop, a "very narcissistic man", who had invented stories of bribing various public representatives to fit his view of the past. He fended off questions from Mr John Gallagher SC, for the tribunal, over whether he was calling the lobbyist "a liar", arguing that he was simply mistaken.

Mr Dunlop alleges he was asked by Mr Lydon at a meeting in St John of God's for £5,000 to propose a motion to rezone 108 acres in May 1992. They eventually agreed on £3,000, which he said was paid three days later. However, Mr Lydon told the tribunal he was not at either meeting, and he has no recollection of when he signed the motion.

Mr Lydon said on May 1st, 1992, the occasion of the first meeting according to Mr Dunlop, he was at a conference run by the Irish Association of Corporate Treasurers (IACT), in Dun Laoghaire.

He was due to address the conference at 2.05 p.m. on the subject of "Europhobia", but "probably" went to hear the opening address at 9.05 a.m. by the then Minister for Finance, Mr Bertie Ahern. Although he had no recollection of what Mr Ahern said, he "assumed" he was there, as he always attended ministerial speeches if they were in his area. He would have stayed on the podium for the following speaker, and for an ensuing question-and-answer session, which was scheduled to end at 3.25 p.m.

Mr Dunlop's diary contains a reference to a meeting with Mr Lydon at 3.30 p.m. at St John of God's.

Mr Sean Healy, a former chairman of the IACT, told the tribunal last month Mr Lydon attended the drinks reception at the end of the conference, which started at around 5.30 p.m.

Mr Dunlop's diary also shows he met Mr Lydon on the following Monday morning, May 4th, at 9.30 a.m. There is also a reference on the same date of a meeting with the late Mr Tom Hand, who seconded the motion.

However, Mr Lydon said he would never arrange an appointment at this time, as hospital rounds took place on Mondays. "I wouldn't take a phone call from my wife on a Monday," he said. In any case, he was at a funeral in Sallynoggin that morning.

Mr Lydon did concede under suggestion from Mr Gallagher that it was not impossible could have met Mr Dunlop for five minutes and still been in time for the funeral, which began at 10 a.m. "But this never happened, I never met him," the senator said.

The tribunal continues this afternoon.