When planning corruption in Dublin dominated the news, Jim Kennedy seemed to be everywhere and nowhere.
Everywhere because he featured prominently as the years-long planning tribunal investigated a litany of political bribes and malpractice. Nowhere because he refused outright to give evidence to the tribunal, taking up residence in Gibraltar and renouncing his Irish citizenship.
Kennedy, who has died aged 76 in a London hospital after an illness, was not fond of the limelight. But he left an indelible mark for his role in clandestine payments to councillors from developers seeking enrichment from their rezoning votes, a role he denied in garda interviews.
Kennedy denied corrupt links with lobbyist Frank Dunlop, the former government press secretary who went to prison after pleading guilty to bribery. Kennedy also denied corrupt associations with the late Liam Lawlor, the former Fianna Fáil TD who was criticised by the tribunal for using his position as an elected representative “for his own personal gain and the personal gain of others” including Kennedy and his business partner, John Caldwell.
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The tribunal was satisfied that it was intended by Mr Kennedy that Mr Dunlop would use all or a portion of the IR£25,000 to make corrupt payments to councillors
Such affairs were a sensation in their time, with people queuing up for crowded hearings under Mr Justice Feargus Flood and his successor Mr Justice Alan Mahon. With evidence re-enacted nightly on the radio, these were momentous events that gripped the public imagination.
Yet Jim Kennedy was always absent as witnesses traipsed into Dublin Castle. At one point his Gibraltar lawyers told the tribunal he was refusing “with regret” to co-operate with its request for information. Although the tribunal was later forced to withdraw large chunks of two earlier reports after losing court cases, its findings in relation to Dunlop and Kennedy still stand.
From a farming background in Abbeyleix, Co Laois, Kennedy rose to prominence as auctioneer and property developer based in Lucan, Co Dublin. He claimed to be the majority shareholder in a Westmoreland Street amusement arcade and once owned the Laurels pub in Clondalkin. From such origins he built a property empire of scale, although the full extent of his interests was always something of a mystery.
In time, murky land entanglements at Carrickmines, close to the M50 motorway in south Dublin, drew him into a world of adverse publicity – and conflict with the tribunal and the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB). However, a CAB case seeking payment from Kennedy of monies it claimed came from the alleged corrupt enrichment of his company Jackson Way following the rezoning of the Carrickmines land was later withdrawn.
In tribunal correspondence, Kennedy had denied any interest in the Carrickmines lands or in any company associated with them. Still, the tribunal found the beneficial owners of Jackson Way were Kennedy and Caldwell.
Kennedy and four politicians faced criminal charges for corruption. He pleaded not guilty and saw the trial collapse because Dunlop, the main prosecution witness, was too ill to give evidence. The Circuit Criminal Court heard Kennedy “emphatically denied” giving Dunlop £25,000 in 1991 to bribe councillors to vote in favour of rezoning land.
“If someone offered to do something for bribes for me, I’d go to the police,” he said in a garda interview, in remarks read in court.
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Still, the tribunal accepted Dunlop’s testimony that Kennedy was aware money would have to be paid to councillors as part of a campaign to gain rezoning support. “The tribunal was satisfied that it was intended by Mr Kennedy that Mr Dunlop would use all or a portion of the IR£25,000 to make corrupt payments to councillors,” the report said.
Because of his absence from the jurisdiction, Kennedy could not be compelled to appear at the tribunal. In contrast to his refusal to attend, however, his wife Antoinette Kennedy gave evidence in 2002. She said her husband once told a businessman not to have anything to do with Lawlor as he was the “kiss of death” for any property. In that light, she found it amusing that her husband was reported to be a business partner of Lawlor’s.
For his part, Lawlor described Jim Kennedy as a friend. In a garda interview, Kennedy described Lawlor as a bully and said the smell of Lawlor was enough to put him off Dunlop.
For all that, the tribunal was clear in its conclusion that Lawlor’s secret involvement as an adviser and strategist in a rezoning effort was well known “at all times” to Kennedy, Caldwell and Dunlop. Lawlor’s involvement was part of “a wide-ranging corrupt relationship” between himself and Dunlop, the tribunal found.
A father of 10, Kennedy had the reputation of a larger-than-life man. He had an eye for real estate investment, and knowledge of complex business structures.
Someone who knew him well for decades said he could “buy and sell anybody in business,” adding he was “hugely motivated” in relation to his work.
“Like all of these chaps, they know the detail of the project. They know the detail of the business, with an ability to look at a page and see the answer,” the person said. “They come into the room, there’s an ability to move the room. He was a presence, you knew that this chap had a way about him that he was going to get it done.”
Kennedy had the money and the stamina for fighting long legal battles, many of which went on for years. Last month, the Court of Appeal set aside a 2018 High Court decision in favour of Kennedy’s company Jackson Way, dismissing a €5.8 million claim over south Dublin land. It was one case among many.