CORK DEVELOPER Owen O'Callaghan says he did not tell his business partner, Luton-based developer Tom Gilmartin, that he paid the late Liam Lawlor for his assistance with the Quarryvale development because it wasn't any of his business.
Mr O'Callaghan said if he had tried to explain that to Mr Gilmartin he would still be on the telephone to him today.
The planning tribunal is currently questioning Mr O'Callaghan as part of the Quarryvale II module, an investigation into allegations of corruption surrounding the rezoning of land on which the Liffey Valley shopping centre was built.
Mr O'Callaghan agreed yesterday that Mr Gilmartin made a series of generalised complaints about wrongdoing in relation to planning in Dublin. He complained about interference by Mr Lawlor and former assistant Dublin city and county manager George Redmond.
The tribunal had heard that Mr O'Callaghan had paid £30,000 to Mr Lawlor in September 1994 and March 1995 for assistance he gave with the Quarryvale development.
Patricia Dillon SC, for the tribunal, asked Mr O'Callaghan if he had told Mr Gilmartin about the payments.
"No, if I had, I would be still talking to him on the telephone today," Mr O'Callaghan said.
He said he might have mentioned that Mr Lawlor had been of some assistance, but he would not have mentioned the money.
"In my opinion that wasn't his business," Mr O'Callaghan said.
The tribunal heard that in October 1994, Mr Gilmartin wrote to AIB bank, which was also a stakeholder in Barkhill Ltd, the company behind the Quarryvale development. He said he was appointing banker Paul Sheeran to act on his behalf at board meetings.
Mr O'Callaghan said he was delighted Mr Sheeran would be attending meetings as he was a "rational person" who could pass on details of the meetings to Mr Gilmartin, whom they had been "nurse maiding" up until then. He said he had been unable to give Mr Gilmartin updates on the phone because he sometimes could not get through.
He believed this was because Mr Gilmartin had been "cut off" by the phone company.
Ms Dillon said that at a board meeting attended by both Mr Sheeran and Mr Gilmartin in May 1995, Mr Gilmartin listed a number of complaints about how he was treated by the bank and Mr O'Callaghan.
He said he was "subjected to political manoeuvrings, blackmailing and a campaign of dirty tricks such that he had lost everything".
Mr O'Callaghan said he recalled the meeting and that Mr Gilmartin had been "ranting" and used very bad language. Ms Dillon asked him what he did about the complaints.
"I didn't believe them so I didn't do anything about them," Mr O'Callaghan said.
