Dunlop claims councillors were paid regularly

Mahon tribunal: Lobbyist Frank Dunlop has said he made payments to around 15 councillors on Dublin County Council on a regular basis during his time working on behalf of developers.

Giving evidence to the Mahon tribunal yesterday, Mr Dunlop said he kept "a bag of cash" readily available from which to make payments.

He said he had worked as a lobbyist in relation to about 18 developments. Mr Dunlop said that in the majority of cases he had been introduced to developers by either the late Fianna Fáil politician Liam Lawlor or the land agent Tim Collins. He said that Mr Lawlor would come along and say "I have advised someone that you should be brought on board". He said Mr Lawlor would then look for money as an "introductory fee".

Mr Dunlop said he had paid £4,000 to councillors in relation to land owned by development company Monarch Properties at Cherrywood in south Dublin

The tribunal is currently investigating the rezoning of these lands by Dublin County Council in the early 1990s. It is examining how the Monarch Properties' lands came to be zoned for a higher housing density than property owned by others in the area.

Mr Dunlop accepted that he and his company had received £81,000 from Monarch Properties in relation to Cherrywood. He acknowledged that on three occasions in 2000 he had told the tribunal that he had only received £25,000 from the company. He later revised this figure upwards to £60,000 after receiving documentation from the tribunal. He later accepted other evidence from the tribunal of additional payments, bringing the total to £85,000 (including the money paid to the councillors).

Mr Dunlop suspected that one part of this £85,000 payment - a cheque for £10,000 on which his signature had been forged - had actually gone to Mr Lawlor. He said that he had only seen the cheque for the first time yesterday morning. He said that while the cheque was made out to his company the signature on the reverse side was not his.

He said that his suspicions of the involvement of Mr Lawlor arose after it was brought to his attention at the tribunal that the cheque had been stamped by Ulster Bank in Lucan. He said that it was like "a red light had gone off" in his head. He said that "Lucan was synonymous with Mr Lawlor". The tribunal heard that the word "Cleary's" appeared to be written on the cheque.

Tribunal counsel Henry Murphy said there was evidence that Mr Lawlor had cashed cheques at Cleary's pub in Inchicore. Mr Dunlop also accepted that he had incorrectly identified two councillors at a private session of the tribunal in May 2000 as having received bribes in connection with the Cherrywood lands. Mr Murphy said Mr Dunlop had said that he had definitely given money to Fianna Fáil senator Don Lydon and that the late Fine Gael councillor Tom Hand had been "on the books". He said that in October 2000 Mr Dunlop had identified two other councillors, Tony Fox and Colm McGrath, as receiving money.

Mr Dunlop said the two councillors he had initially named had been "deeply involved" with him on other occasions but that he had provided correct information after studying a "road map" of maps, motions and other documents provided by the tribunal.