The former Dublin city and county manager, Mr George Redmond, yesterday admitted receiving payments totalling £15,000 from the man whose company built toll roads in Dublin.
He received a cheque for £5,000 from Mr Tom Roche, chairman of National Toll Roads, shortly before his retirement in June 1989 and a further cheque for £10,000 in about 1997, shortly before Mr Roche died. He said Mr Roche was interested in possible sites for landfill and he was going to try to come up with suitable locations for him.
It also emerged yesterday that a house which existed for at least 15 years without planning permission was granted retention shortly before it was bought by Dublin County Council in 1986 to make way for the Westlink toll bridge, built by Mr Roche.
The owner of the house, Mr Jim Kennedy, was an acquaintance of Mr Redmond, but Mr Redmond insisted to the tribunal that the owner did not tell him at any stage he had difficulties with the planning status of the dwelling at Strawberry Beds.
The tribunal has heard that Mr Redmond lent £40,000 to Mr Malachy Skelly, a turf accountant, and Mr Kennedy, a publican, early in 1980. Later that year he lent Mr Kennedy £70,000. He was repaid only £10,000 of the £110,000.
Mr Desmond O'Neill SC, for the tribunal, put it to Mr Redmond that planning permission increased the value of Mr Kennedy's house just before it was acquired by the local authority through a compulsory purchase order. Mr Redmond said the construction of a substantial house on the lower road to Lucan without planning permission would have been absolutely inconceivable at the time.
He believed there had to be a planning history in the case.
Mr O'Neill said the Dublin County Council file which included documentation on the house was seized in his home by the Criminal Assets Bureau. "Of the hundreds and thousands of files in Dublin County Council about planning applications, one of four found itself in your home, 10 years after you retired. Why did you retain this file?"
Mr Redmond replied that it related to a second site in which at one stage he thought he might be interested. Possibly he should not have retained the file. He recalled there was a permission on the land adjacent to Mr Kennedy's house. It would not have been affected by the link road. It was well south of it.
Referring to the planning status of Mr Kennedy's house, Mr O'Neill put it to him that planning officials would have researched this. "It's a question of the adequacy of it," he replied.
Mr Redmond agreed with Mr Justice Flood that it was an illegal building. The judge asked how could the owner of the building, who was acquainted with him, not tell him this was an illegal structure. "Wasn't the real exercise here how to enhance the value of the site?" he asked.
Mr Redmond said he had no recollection of Mr Kennedy telling him his house had no planning permission. He added that when somebody found out their house did not have planning permission, they sought retention. He said Mr Kennedy may not have mentioned it because he felt the application for retention was a straightforward matter.
Mr Redmond said it seemed that Mr Kennedy was not the first occupier, that planning history would date back to 1971. Mr O'Neill said that in December 1986 Dublin County Council agreed to acquire the property. It recommended planning permission.
