Analysis: Contradictions are multiplying as county councillors go into denial, writes Paul Cullen
How does Liam Lawlor do it? Just when you think he has expended his ability to ignore the facts and argue the unarguable, he confounds you again.
The former Fianna Fáil TD used to argue till he was blue in the face that he had no business relationship with Jim Kennedy, the amusement-arcade owner and presumed owner of the Jackson Way lands. Then a document turned up showing the two men's involvement in a major business deal in Lucan.
He used to say he'd made a full declaration of his business interests on the register of interests of TDs. But every year something new would turn up, usually because the facts emerged in the courts or in the media.
Now, only a day after the tribunal heard that Mr Lawlor denies any involvement in the Paisley Park/Jackson Way lands in Carrickmines, there is fresh evidence that Mr Lawlor and Mr Kennedy held a business meeting about Paisley Park in Leinster House.
The very fact that Mr Kennedy, who has a questionable business history and is refusing to return to Ireland to attend the tribunal, was parading up and down the corridors of Leinster House in 1991 is distasteful in itself.
But the news that the TD helped prepare a submission to Dublin County Council by the company to have its lands rezoned amounts to a serious further blow to his credibility.
Here is what Mr Lawlor has told the tribunal: "I confirm that I have not at any time had any interest, directly or indirectly . . . with Paisley Park . . . The only knowledge I had of Paisley Park and Jackson Way is by reading about these companies, particularly in the Sunday Tribune."
And Mr Kennedy says: "Mr Liam Lawlor did not at any time . . . have any beneficial legal or equitable interest in the said land and/or Jackson Way . . . insofar as our client is aware."
Yet we learned yesterday that two consulting engineers, with no obvious axe to grind, will tell the tribunal they attended a meeting with Mr Lawlor and Mr Kennedy about the Paisley Park lands in Leinster House. They also met the two men later when they came with Mr Lawlor's son Niall to pick up the documents they had prepared.
By now, the defence the councillors will employ is becoming clear. Several representatives say the county manager supported plans to rezone land in the Carrickmines area before the 1991 local elections. However, in the years after the elections, officials opposed successive attempts to rezone the land, saying they were premature when the area was not serviced and before the motorway was built.
Then there is the standard defence employed by rezoning councillors everywhere and at every time: that their actions were motivated by a desire to create jobs and build houses. This being salubrious south Dublin, the emphasis was on high-quality industrial jobs and plush suburban houses.
The battle-lines for combat between Frank Dunlop and his enemies are also being drawn. Already, unnamed councillors are putting it about in the media that the lobbyist may have been "skimming" some of the money he got from landowners that was supposed to be passed on to politicians.
No doubt the truth of this allegation will be tested at the tribunal, but it's worth noting that the politicians would have no way of knowing whether this was the case.
Mr Dunlop has already been described as a "self-confessed perjurer" and he can expect worse as the weeks go by and his allegations mount up. There is a clear parallel to the situation James Gogarty found himself five years ago.
Like Mr Gogarty, Mr Dunlop is a whistle-blower who has admitted his involvement in corrupt acts. Like Mr Gogarty, he says he fell in with a design planned by others. Like Mr Gogarty, he delivers a complex tale containing some inconsistencies that will be exploited by his opponents.
The interim report of the tribunal stunningly vindicated Mr Gogarty's position; it isn't clear yet in what esteem the tribunal holds Mr Dunlop.
As a former government press secretary with a well-practised gift for media manipulation, he can only expect to get as good as he gave in his day.