MAHON TRIBUNAL:FORMER TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern has said he never received "a penny, or a cent in today's money", from Cork developer Owen O'Callaghan.
He also told the Mahon tribunal yesterday he had no recollection of a phone call from Luton-based developer Tom Gilmartin in which Mr Gilmartin said he complained of demands for money from the late Liam Lawlor and former Dublin assistant county manager George Redmond.
The planning tribunal was questioning Mr Ahern as part of the Quarryvale II module, an investigation into allegations of corruption surrounding the rezoning of land on which the Liffey Valley shopping centre is built.
Mr Gilmartin had said Mr O'Callaghan told him he paid Mr Ahern a total of £80,000 in connection with Quarryvale. And he may also have received a share of £150,000, which Mr Gilmartin alleged Mr O'Callaghan told him he paid to former taoiseach Albert Reynolds. The payment was allegedly made for the tax designation of a shopping centre at Golden Island, in Athlone.
Mr Gilmartin had said Mr O'Callaghan told him he gave €50,000 to Mr Ahern in 1989 for his role in ensuring that Mr Gilmartin was able to buy land at Quarryvale. The £30,000 was allegedly paid to Mr Ahern to block tax designation for rival shopping development, the Blanchardstown shopping centre.
Mr Ahern had consistently denied the allegations.
Counsel for the tribunal Des O'Neill SC asked Mr Ahern yesterday if he was rejecting the allegations against him.
"Absolutely, I never received a penny, or a cent in today's money," Mr Ahern said. He said he could not help what Mr O'Callaghan and Mr Gilmartin said to each other. "I wish I never heard of either of them," he said.
The tribunal heard Mr Gilmartin said he called Mr Ahern in May 1989 to complain that the sale of Dublin Corporation land at Irishtown, west Dublin, which he needed for the Quarryvale development, was being blocked.
Mr Gilmartin said he told Mr Ahern he had been approached by Mr Lawlor and Mr Redmond for money and when he refused to pay them, they blocked the sale. He said Mr Ahern put him in touch with then Fianna Fáil councillor Joe Burke and the sale subsequently went through.
Mr O'Neill told the tribunal that the acquisition of the land at Irishtown was not only important to Mr Gilmartin; Mr O'Callaghan also had an interest in seeing that it was acquired for the Quarryvale project. He stood to make £3.5 million from Mr Gilmartin if Quarryvale went ahead. He had agreed to "stand back" from land at Neilstown on which he had intended to develop a shopping centre, in return for the payment.
Mr Ahern conceded that Mr Gilmartin must have phoned him, but said he had no recollection of what was discussed.
"I have no recollection of Mr Gilmartin ringing me. . . obviously if Joe Burke went to meet him, it was because I asked him," Mr Ahern said.
He said he was sure if Mr Gilmartin had made allegations of demands for money against Mr Lawlor or Mr Redmond, he would have remembered that.
Mr Ahern said he didn't know that Mr Lawlor had any involvement in Quarryvale or was being paid by an English developer with connections to Mr Gilmartin. If he had known, he would not have approved, he said. He also said no one explained to him the consequences for Mr O'Callaghan of the transfer of the corporation land to Mr Gilmartin.
"So it follows that there was no question of anybody coming to you to say 'here is £50,000 to advance this project'?" Mr O'Neill asked.
"Definitely not, no," Mr Ahern said.
"That, Mr Ahern, deals with the first of the allegations which was made against you. . .," Mr O'Neill said.
