Failure to mention Haughey linkwas 'coincidental'

Mahon tribunal: A Dublin businessman has said it was coincidental that people associated with a consortium which bought land near Dublin airport in 1991 failed to mention the involvement of Ciarán Haughey in the project in their statements to the Mahon tribunal.

Stephen Fitzgerald said he had prepared his statement before receiving legal advice and that he had identified one of the members of the consortium as Abervanta Ltd without setting out the beneficial owners of this company .

"I just listed them as I understood them to be, I wasn't trying to be reflective or to consider it from different angles," he said.

Mr Fitzgerald said he had not deliberately left out Mr Haughey's name and that he did disclose the information to the tribunal just before the start of the current module after receiving legal advice.

Counsel for the tribunal Patricia Dillon SC said neither Mr Fitzgerald nor other businessmen associated with the consortium had elected to disclose to the tribunal "pertinent and very important facts" that Mr Haughey and his business partner John Barnicle owned Abervanta

Judge Gerald Keys asked Mr Fitzgerald did he not agree with the suggestion that the reason why none of the men disclosed Abervanta's ownership was because the name Haughey would have appeared.

Mr Fitzgerald replied: "That's possible, yes."

However Mr Fitzgerald said consortium members decided in 1991-92 to keep secret the involvement of Mr Haughey.

"It was very simple. We approached the people of Celtic Helicopters because we believed that because they were in proximity to the lands we were hopeful to buy and because they had established a right of way, they brought commercial benefits to our proposal.

"And thereafter because of Mr Haughey's political connectivity we felt that that would have had no real value to us," Mr Fitzgerald stated.

Asked what he meant by that, he said he was referring to Charles J Haughey, the father of Ciarán Haughey.