Lydon says FF payments inquiry ignored own terms of reference

The Fianna Fáil inquiry into political payments ignored its own terms of reference by concentrating only on allegations relating to Frank Dunlop, Senator Don Lydon has suggested.

The inquiry examined payments relating to Mr Dunlop and did not carry out a "complete trawl" when interviewing councillors, he said.

Mr Lydon was being questioned why he failed to disclose a number of political contributions to the inquiry, which was set up in 2000 to investigate payments to councillors by "Frank Dunlop and/or developers".

He said he had checked with fellow councillor Ms Betty Coffey and one of the members of the committee and they had told him the inquiry was only dealing with "two or three things" and wasn't "a general trawl".

Mr Lydon denies an allegation by Mr Dunlop that he accepted a £3,000 bribe in return for his vote on the rezoning of land in Carrickmines in south Dublin. He completed his evidence yesterday.

Mr Colm Allen SC, for Mr Dunlop, accused Mr Lydon of dealing with the inquiry in bad faith and of concealing payments from it. It "defied belief" that he could have received two payments of £5,000 in 1992 and not have mentioned these to the inquiry.

Mr Lydon denied this charge. He didn't conceal anything from the committee. At the time, he hadn't "an idea" what he had received, unlike other councillors who had "spotless" financial records.

Mr Justice Flood said it seemed that figures of £5,000 just dropped into Mr Lydon's lap "like snuff at a wake" and yet he forgot about them. Mr Lydon agreed.

Developers stood to make millions from rezoning and threw money around "like confetti" in the hope of influencing politicians, he told the tribunal. They were still doing it. They tried to create "a goodwill factor" in case something came up which affected them.

He pointed out that Mr Pat Hanratty SC, who formerly worked for the tribunal, had contributed £1,000 to a candidate. This was "perfectly legitimate" because barristers pay money to politicians "all the time".

Mr John Gallagher SC, for the tribunal, said Mr Lydon was incorrect. The person who had made this donation was Mr Hanratty's wife Eileen. Her sister-in-law was a Fine Gael politician (Ms Olivia Mitchell).

Judge Alan Mahon pointed out that in each instance in which Mr Lydon had received money, he had either proposed or supported the development proposed by the donor. "You did as they wished you to do."

Did he not see it as strange, the judge asked, that he had failed to disclose his "interest" in these lands, in the sense that he had received money from the owners?

Mr Lydon said he believed all the rezonings were good proposals. Companies gave money to everyone on the council, but he didn't believe councillors were influenced by this.

Judge Mahon said this was liable to misinterpretation by "almost anyone".

"Anyone except politicians, because that's where we get our money from," Mr Lydon replied. Besides, the public didn't "give a hoot" about these payments.

Mr Lydon agreed with Mr Allen that the former Fianna Fáil minister Mr Ray Burke had a "particular style of operation" when he was chairman of Dublin County Council in 1985-1987. He was a great chairman and things ran like clockwork.

Asked if Mr Burke made "Saddam Hussein look like Mother Teresa", he replied: "Ay, surely, he did".

The tribunal has now adjourned until Tuesday week, when it will hear submissions on costs from individuals who failed to co-operate with its investigations into Mr Burke. In last year's interim report, Mr Justice Flood found that 18 people had either hindered and obstructed the work of the tribunal or had failed to co-operate with it.

They included Mr Burke; former Government press secretary Mr P.J. Mara; builders Mr Tom Brennan, Mr Joe McGowan and Mr Michael Bailey; businessmen Mr Joseph Murphy jnr and Mr Joseph Murphy snr and the founders of Century Radio, Mr Oliver Barry and Mr James Stafford.

As a result, all could be facing the prospect of paying their own legal fees and those of the tribunal, depending on what decision the chairman takes after hearing submissions.

Hearings on Mr Dunlop's allegations about bribery are not due to resume until the end of this month.