One of the owners of the controversial English company Jackson Way has denied paying money to get hold of a confidential rezoning map prepared by Dublin County Council.
Solicitor Mr John Caldwell also denied earlier evidence that he had shredded the map, which was given to Jackson Way's co-owner Mr Jim Kennedy 16 months before county councillors saw it
Mr Caldwell denied paying an architect, Mr Frank Finnegan, £2,000 to obtain the map in 1990. He had not paid money to obtain a map "in doubtful circumstances" nor had he shredded this document, as had been alleged, he told the tribunal yesterday.
He said he read "with disbelief" Mr Finnegan's claim that he had shredded the map.
Last March, Mr Finnegan told the tribunal he was given the map by an official in the planning department, Mr Gerry Carroll, whom Mr Kennedy knew. Described by Mr Finnegan as "classified, confidential and privileged", the map had given Mr Kennedy information that saved a lot of money. It showed that planners intended to rezone large areas of land at Carrickmines in south Dublin, including Jackson Way's, for industrial use. At the time, the company wanted to build houses on its land.
Mr Finnegan was paid £2,000 for his services, but Mr Caldwell said yesterday this was not given for the map. He didn't even know who Mr Carroll was. The suggestion that Mr Kennedy possessed confidential information 16 months before the councillors "flew in the face" of the circumstances that pertained at the time, and of the contemporary notes. It wasn't plausible.
Mr Caldwell said he had no recollection of being told about a meeting in Leinster House in December 1991, involving Mr Kennedy, Mr Finnegan and Mr Liam Lawlor. It was probable, however, that Mr Kennedy had told him about the meeting and Mr Lawlor's involvement in efforts to develop the Carrickmines land.
Asked why Mr Kennedy was refusing to return from the Isle of Man to give evidence to the tribunal, Mr Caldwell said his partner had told him he was not prepared to have his affairs "torn apart" in the public domain and to spend years dealing with the tribunal. He regards himself as "an innocent man wrongly accused" of bribing councillors.
Mr Caldwell said he first met the lobbyist Mr Frank Dunlop in 1989, not 1991 as Mr Dunlop has claimed. Their first meetings were about a land deal in Baldoyle, not Carrickmines, he said.
He understood Mr Kennedy had agreed a success fee of £200,000 for Mr Dunlop if the Carrickmines land was rezoned, but said he wasn't asked about this deal beforehand.
Mr Dunlop has one of the biggest egos and the greatest amount of confidence of anyone he had met. He was articulate, polished and professional, "a man you felt you could have confidence in".
Earlier, Mr Caldwell estimated the value of the Carrickmines land as "many multiples of 10 millions". He said an estimate of €100 million, which is based on the current sale price of adjoining land, was "at the top end of the scale". The lands, which were used for agriculture, were acquired as a speculative purchase in the late 1980s. The tribunal continues.
