Owen acknowledges #500 from Mahony

Former Fine Gael minister Ms Nora Owen failed to tell a party inquiry about a £500 donation she got from a garage-owner Mr Denis Mahony.

Ms Owen told the tribunal yesterday that she didn't remember the payment to Mr Mahony when she was being interviewed by the inquiry in May 2000.

She said the inquiry was interested in "builders" and she didn't consider Mr Mahony a developer. Aside from declared donations, she had told the inquiry she received other contributions for which she had no records.

The tribunal is currently investigating allegations by Mr Frank Dunlop that he bribed four Fianna Fáil county councillors to secure the rezoning of Mr Mahony's land at Drumnigh, near Portmarnock in north Co Dublin, in 1993.

Yesterday Ms Owen said she accepted Mr Mahony's evidence that he had given her a political contribution during the 1991 local elections. She recalled meeting Mr Mahony once in the run-up to the vote on the Drumnigh rezoning, when he came to lobby her.

Ms Owen had indicated her support. She felt it would be a good thing if there were some rezoning for low-density housing in the Malahide-Portmarnock area. This would allow local people to "trade up" to better houses if they wished.

The Portmarnock Community Association had said there was no low-density housing available and there was "some merit" in what it was saying.

However, Ms Patricia Dillon SC, for the tribunal, read a letter from the association, which called on councillors to oppose Drumnigh and other rezonings that would impinge on the green belt between Baldoyle and Portmarnock.

These would ruin the area by allowing developers to turn it into "a concrete jungle", the letter stated.

Ms Owen accepted it was clear that the association opposed the rezoning, in contradiction to her earlier evidence. But, as a councillor, there was a statutory function to "make up your own mind".

Ms Owen voted in favour of the Drumnigh rezoning, which Dublin County Council passed by 28 votes to 11 in April 1993.

In September 1993 this and other local rezonings came up for confirmation. A number of other rezonings in the area, against which a small number of objections had been made, were reversed. However, the Drumnigh rezoning was confirmed, even though 2,530 objections had been made against it and the planners were also opposed.

Asked why the Drumnigh vote had been confirmed, Ms Owen said she hadn't changed her mind. She still thought it was a good idea.

Judge Gerald Keys said Ms Owen had voted "entirely" against the wishes of local people, contrary to the advice of planners and in favour of one individual who had lobbied her for the rezoning.

Ms Owen agreed, but said she hadn't done this just because she had been lobbied.

But Judge Keys insisted that it was "an extraordinary thing" that the view of 2,530 objectors and the planners had been set aside in favour of "a very well-off businessman".

When Ms Owen said this was an interpretation, Judge Keys responded that these were the facts and they were undisputed.

Asked whether she had been aware of rumours about corruption on the council, Ms Owen said she had, but she had no evidence or knowledge of the involvement of councillors in these matters. She could only believe the "protestations" of her colleagues.

• The three payments Ms Owen disclosed to her party inquiry were £500 or £1,000 from Mr Dunlop in 1992, £1,000 from Monarch Properties in 1997 and £250 from Mr Dunlop in 1999.

The inquiry reported that all three payments were unsolicited and were handed over to the constituency organisation. "The above are the only payments made to her of which she has any memory or record," it noted.