An attempt by one of the State's most exclusive schools, St Gerard's in Bray, to have part of its lands rezoned is to be investigated by the Mahon tribunal next week. Paul Cullen reports.
The former government press secretary, Mr Frank Dunlop, returns to the witness box on Wednesday to detail his involvement in attempts to rezone 22 acres of land owned by the private school in 1993.
A motion at Dublin county council to rezone the land at Old Connaught Avenue for residential development was proposed by Cllr Liam Cosgrave and seconded by Cllr Michael Joe Cosgrave, both of Fine Gael, in that year. It was defeated by 22 votes to 19.
Mr Dunlop is expected to say that some of the payments he allegedly made to councillors related to this rezoning attempt. The councillors involved deny the allegation.
The school paid Mr Dunlop about £3,000 by cheque for his services as a lobbyist, but says it knows nothing about how he went about this work.
"We had some surplus land, which we wanted to have rezoned," said the present chairman of the board of governors, Mr Leo O'Kane.
"But we didn't know how to go about this. We were advised to get help, and ended up with Frank Dunlop."
Mr O'Kane said the school had "nothing to hide" and had given all the information it had to the tribunal. It never heard from Mr Dunlop again after the motion to rezone was defeated.
The chairman of the school board in 1993 was Mr Jim Sheridan, the RTÉ rugby commentator, who is currently in Australia.
Council planners recommended against the rezoning because the land was located to the west of the Shankill-Bray bypass, so any change in zoning there would set an "undesirable precedent for the erosion of the greenbelt" in the area. The land is located in the Dublin county council area (now Dún Laoghaire/Rathdown county council) but drains into the Bray area.
The forthcoming module is scheduled to last only 10 days and should be completed by the time the tribunal adjourns before Christmas. Mr Dunlop will be followed into the witness box by a number of council officials, planning consultants and politicians.
In addition to the two Cosgraves, the councillors called to give evidence include Mr Tony Fox and Mr Larry Butler of Fianna Fáil and Mr Donal Lowry and Mr Donal Marren of Fine Gael. Being called to be a witness does not mean that any allegation has been made against a particular person.
St Gerard's, which was founded in 1918, charges annual fees of about €7,300. Describing itself as a Catholic, coeducational, private lay school, it has about 500 pupils including 50 boarders. It addition to its educational curriculum, the school offers leisure and sporting facilities such as horse-riding and a radio and television production suite.
Earlier this week, the tribunal completed its investigations into the rezoning of land at Drumnigh, near Portmarnock in north county Dublin, in just 15 days of public evidence. The previous module, concerning the rezoning of the Jackson Way land at Carrickmines, took a year to complete. Both modules were prompted by allegations made by Mr Dunlop.
Up to 10 more modules of varying length are expected to take place based on Mr Dunlop's evidence. The longest of these will be the investigation into the rezoning of Quarryvale in west Dublin, which is expected to last at least 18 months.The tribunal may also hold public sittings into other allegations not based on information from the former lobbyist.