The High Court yesterday rejected all but one of the grounds of a challenge by a Dublin solicitor, John Caldwell, to the Mahon planning tribunal's decision to inquire into a number of land deals in Co Dublin in which Mr Caldwell was allegedly involved with former Fianna Fáil TD Liam Lawlor and businessman Jim Kennedy.
Mr Justice Michael Hanna deferred judgment on one ground, related to alleged breaches of Mr Caldwell's right to privacy.
The action arose from a decision of the tribunal to proceed, in its Carrickmines Two and related issues module, with a public hearing into the ownership of lands at Coolamber, Lucan, and six other parcels of land in Co Dublin.
Yesterday, Mr Justice Hanna held that the proposed public inquiry was within both the tribunal's original 1997 terms of reference and its amended terms of reference of December 2004.
He also rejected arguments that the tribunal acted in breach of natural and constitutional justice when it refused to hear submissions from his lawyers as to why it should not proceed to public hearings.
He said Mr Caldwell had been informed in November 2003 of the tribunal's proposal to move, in early 2004, to public hearings into Coolamber and other lands.
The tribunal had discretion to move to such hearings. Mr Caldwell's solicitors had objected to the decision, but the views of the tribunal were made clear.
The Carrickmines Two mod- ule follows on from Carrickmines One module which inquired into claims that councillors were bribed to secure the rezoning of other lands at Carrickmines.
Tribunal lawyers are investigating a possibility that a pattern of ownership for the Coolamber lands allegedly involving Mr Caldwell, Mr Kennedy and Mr Lawlor could have applied to the Carrickmines lands.
Mr Paul Gardiner SC, for Mr Caldwell, with an address at St John's, isle of Man, said it was accepted that Jackson Way Properties Ltd was the legal owner of the Carrickmines lands featured in the first module.
The tribunal had concluded in November 2004 that Mr Caldwell and Mr Kennedy were most likely to be the beneficial owners through shareholdings in offshore companies. Mr Lawlor had denied he was a beneficial owner.
He said the tribunal was inquiring into the ownership of "non Carrickmines" lands to seek to establish whether Mr Lawlor did in fact have a beneficial ownership in the Carrickmines land despite what Mr Lawlor and Mr Caldwell had said.
The ownership of the other parcels of land were variously held by Mr Caldwell with Mr Kennedy or with Mr Caldwell, Mr Kennedy and Mr Lawlor, or Mr Kennedy with Mr Lawlor, or Mr Kennedy on his own.
Mr Gardiner said Mr Caldwell maintained the tribunal was not mandated to establish who were the beneficial owners of the Coolamber and other lands.
