The lobbyist Mr Frank Dunlop has a beneficial interest in the 300-acre Citywest Business Park in south Co Dublin, the State's premier business park, where sites are being sold for up to £700,000 per acre.
The multi-million-pound venture, which straddles the Naas Road and includes the National Digital Park and the Dublin Science Park, was created 10 years ago when a group of investors assembled the land and had it rezoned from agricultural to industrial.
It was reportedly assembled for £6 million. Mr Dunlop's interest is understood to be under 5 per cent, but the venture is so successful that any stake would be of significant value.
The rezoning was passed by a huge majority of Dublin county councillors in the early 1990s. The material contravention motion received cross-party support from councillors who were in favour of creating employment in south-west Dublin.
Mr Dunlop would not comment on the matter. "I'm under strict instructions not to say anything about anything," he said in what is understood to be a reference to the Flood tribunal.
The Labour Party TD for Dublin South West, Mr Pat Rabbitte, said last night he received a £5,000 donation from senior figures in the business park development in the run-up to the 1994 European elections, when he stood as a candidate for Democratic Left.
However, he said this did not influence his decision a year later to locate a State-supported science and technology park in Citywest. He said Mr Dunlop did not make any representations to him about the park, which is in his constituency.
In 1995, as minister of State for commerce, science and technology, Mr Rabbitte decided a science and technology park would be located in Citywest. He said that when he became minister he inherited a report which recommended the establishment of such a park in Dublin and gave four possible locations. These were Cherrywood, Abbotstown, Fonthill and Citywest.
The universities were against Cherrywood, the Department of Agriculture vetoed Abbotstown, and there were a large number of Traveller families living on the Fonthill site.
"It was my call and I called Citywest," Mr Rabbitte said. "I am very proud of my decision in relation to what is arguably the most high-tech business park in Europe."
Mr Rabbitte said a cheque for £5,000 was sent to him in the post. He was not entirely sure which legal entity he received it from, but most of his dealings in relation to Citywest were with Mr Brendan Hickey or Mr David Shubotham, he said.
Earlier this week it emerged that Mr Rabbitte returned a £2,000 election donation he received from Mr Dunlop in 1992.
Mr Hickey, Mr Shubotham and Mr Kyran McLaughlin are directors of Citywest Ltd, a dormant company which acts as a front for investors in Citywest. Asked about Mr Dunlop's involvement in the Citywest business park, a spokesman for Citywest Ltd said: "Citywest is owned by a private partnership, and I am not at liberty to comment on the identity of any of the partners."
Because the ownership of the park lies in a private partnership there is no legal requirement for the filing of accounts or the listing of shareholders.
One of the main parties in the Citywest venture is Davy Hickey Properties Ltd, the directors of which include Mr Hickey and Mr McLaughlin. Mr McLaughlin and Mr Shubotham are both major figures in Davy Stockbrokers. Davy Hickey Properties is backed by Davy Stockbrokers and clients of Davys.
Mr McLaughlin resigned as joint chief executive of Davys in November last year when personal papers involving the establishment of a family trust were leaked to the media. Mr McLaughlin stepped down because he believed there might be matters to be resolved with the Revenue Commissioners in relation to the Liechtenstein trust.
Citywest has been a hugely successful commercial venture. In a press release yesterday announcing several e-commerce initiatives by AIB in National Digital Park, Mr Hickey was quoted as saying that more than 10,000 people could be working in Citywest by the middle of the next decade. The campus is to become the e-commerce and Internet hub in this State.
"Citywest was a high-risk venture to build world-class standard facilities for world-class companies," one source said last night. It was a long-term gamble made before the current boom, "but it worked and is now worth very big bucks".
The IDA has invested in National Digital Park, and the Citywest venture is used by the authority as an example of what the State is now capable of in the international high-tech sector.
"It's as good as you'll get in Silicon Valley," the source said.
