Planner censured for lack of notes

Mr Justice Flood has criticised the powers of recall and lack of notes made by the senior planner overseeing development in south Dublin during the 1990s.

The chairman of the tribunal said Mr Willie Murray had a capacity for saying he couldn't recall or remember what had happened during meetings he held with landowners seeking the rezoning of their land in Carrickmines.

"Why didn't you take notes if you had such a poor memory?" Mr Justice Flood asked.

Mr Murrray, who was planning officer with Dublin County Council and then Dún Laoghaire/Rathdown County Council during the 1990s, said it was unreasonable to expect people with long careers in local authorities to take notes of every meeting, many of them mundane.

Mr Justice Flood said the witness seemed to operate an "open house" in relation to people wanting to see him about development. Yet he hadn't made any notes of these meetings, and had no memory of them. "I would have thought as a matter of prudence that you would have kept your answers."

Mr Murray said this wasn't the practice at the time. Officials didn't have the resources needed to do this. "You mean you didn't have a pen and notepad to say 'Mr Jones called in and wanted to have a foul sewer extended'?" the chairman replied.

The exchange occurred after Mr Murray was questioned about his contacts with Mr Brian O'Halloran, one of the landowners in the Carrickmines Valley who was seeking a rezoning.

Mr Murray had originally told the tribunal he had no contact with Mr Frank Dunlop, but later said his diary showed he had met the lobbyist in October 1996.

In his evidence yesterday, he said this was a "routine meeting" at which he explained the planning process in relation to the Carrickmines lands. Mr Dunlop acted for Mr O'Halloran and also for adjoining landowners, Jackson Way.

Justice Alan Mahon said he didn't understand why Mr Murray had met Mr Dunlop. Mr Dunlop was a lobbyist, not a landowner, and had no technical knowledge of planning issues.

Mr Murray said the only reason he had met Mr Dunlop was because Mr Dunlop had asked him. "I didn't want anything from the meeting; it was he who wanted to meet me." There was no detailed discussion of the land in Carrickmines.

In 1999, Mr Murray met Mr Dunlop again when the lobbyist pitched for business from Rathdown Light Rail, a consortium of developers who want to have the Luas line extended to Cherrywood, near Carrickmines. Mr Murray became CEO of the company after retiring from the council in 2001.

Mr Murray expressed surprise at the vote by councillors in 1997 to rezone lands in Carrickmines. There were good reasons why they shouldn't have been rezoned.

The tribunal plans to call politicians allegedly bribed by Mr Dunlop for their votes on the rezoning of the Carrickmines land next week.

Former Fine Gael senator Mr Liam Cosgrave is scheduled to give evidence on Tuesday, though sources say his appearance may be delayed until Wednesday. Fianna Fáil senator Mr Don Lydon and Cllr Tony Fox are scheduled to follow Mr Cosgrave into the witness-box. All nine politicians who figure in Mr Dunlop's allegations deny they took bribes from him.