Solicitor told Lawlor about Gilmartin's allegations

Mr Liam Lawlor has told the tribunal he did not know for years that the developer Mr Tom Gilmartin was making allegations about him.

The former Fianna Fáil TD said it was not until he met solicitor Mr Noel Smyth in the mid-1990s that he learned what Mr Gilmartin was alleging. Mr Smyth was representing Mr Gilmartin at the time.

Mr Gilmartin has told the tribunal that the politician sought £100,000 from him in return for his support, as well as demanding the same amount for the assistant Dublin city and county manager George Redmond.

The tribunal has heard that from 1989 on, Mr Gilmartin told a wide variety of people about his allegations, including a Garda investigation into planning corruption.

Mr Lawlor was not interviewed, however, during the Garda inquiry, which reported that he emerged with his reputation "unscathed".

Yesterday, he said he knew nothing about Mr Gilmartin's allegations to gardaí or anyone else. He learned about the details of the allegations when they started appearing in Sunday newspapers in the late 1990s.

Mr Lawlor acknowledged taking Mr Gilmartin to meet Redmond in 1988 but denied the developer's claim that he sought money in return for his and Redmond's support.

He also denied a claim that he sought a 20 per cent stake in Mr Gilmartin's projects in return for his support on Quarryvale. "When a project has no chance of success, I don't know how you get around to asking for percentages or hundreds of thousands of pounds." In addition, Mr Lawlor denied Mr Gilmartin's claim that he set up a meeting of the developer with Government ministers in 1989, as Mr Gilmartin has alleged. Mr Lawlor said the meeting never happened.

Earlier, he told the tribunal he was unable to explain how the signature of his brother-in-law, Mr Noel Gilsen, appeared endorsing a cheque from Mr Gilmartin to him in 1988.

Mr Gilsen was a painter and decorator who did a lot of work for him, so it could have been that he owed Mr Gilsen some money, he said.

In relation to another cheque from Mr Gilmartin that was endorsed by Mr Gilsen, Mr Quinn said this was an unusual way to treat a cheque.

"Well, I'm an unusual person," Mr Lawlor replied.

Judge Alan Mahon said he would adjourn proceedings "on that interesting note".