Politician held stake in land at Baldoyle

An unnamed politician held a secret stake in land owned by businessmen Mr Jim Kennedy and Mr John Caldwell at Baldoyle, which was at the centre of a controversial rezoning attempt in the early 1990s, the tribunal has heard.

Mr Frank Dunlop told the tribunal that he was not aware at the time of the involvement of the politician, who was an enthusiastic supporter of Mr Dunlop's own attempts to have neighbouring lands rezoned.

Neither was he aware until later that Mr Kennedy and Mr Caldwell owned land in the area, he told Mr Ian Finlay SC, for Mr Caldwell.

However, Mr Finlay said that his client had several meetings with Mr Dunlop about the Baldoyle development.

Tribunal lawyers said they were unaware that the two businessmen owned land on the former Baldoyle racecourse, and they asked counsel to provide further information. They also asked Mr Dunlop to write down the name of the politician.

Mr Dunlop held an option on 500 acres of the racecourse land, but the rezoning motion was narrowly defeated. He later sold his option for £1 million to the same person who purchased Mr Kennedy's and Mr Caldwell's option. According to one estimate, Mr Dunlop's option would have been worth £10 million if the rezoning motion had been passed.

Mr Dunlop dated his first contact with Mr Caldwell to February 1991, but Mr Finlay said that the two men met in late 1989. Mr Caldwell also claims that Mr Dunlop came to him for tax advice regarding the Baldoyle project.

However, Mr Dunlop said he was flabbergasted at the idea that he would approach Mr Caldwell when he had his own professional advisers. He could not have met Mr Caldwell in 1989 because the Baldoyle project did not exist at that time.