MAHON TRIBUNAL: A leading builder has told the Mahon tribunal that he paid former Fianna Fáil TD Mr Liam Lawlor over £40,000 to get the postal address of a housing estate changed from Clondalkin to Lucan.
Mr Séamus Ross of Menolly Homes estimated the change allegedly arranged by Mr Lawlor was worth £5,000 a house to him, or a total of over £2.5 million. The payments were not political contributions, he said.
Mr Lawlor went on to press him for money throughout the 1990s, he said, and he made further payments of £5,000, political contributions amounting to £2,500 as well as a £20,000 discount on a house which was furnished at a cost of £5,000.
Mr Ross was summonsed to appear before the tribunal yesterday after receiving legal advice that it would be "inappropriate" for him to attend voluntarily for interview by tribunal lawyers.
He said that he first got to know Mr Lawlor in 1984 when he moved to Newcastle and met people who worked for the politician. He supplied him with a caravan at election time and gave him a contribution of £500. In 1996, his firm, Menolly Homes, started work on a site for 550 houses on the Clondalkin side of Lucan. Rival builders in the area started telling their customers that Mr Ross's homes at Earlsfort were inferior because they were located in Clondalkin, not Lucan.
Mr Ross said he could not believe this when he heard it. He tested the matter by addressing letters to himself at his site office, addressed to Lucan. They were not delivered.
He asked the postman, who told him they wouldn't be delivered and he would have to collect the letters himself at the post office.
Mr Ross said the difference in address would lead to a difference in selling price, which he estimated at £5,000 for a three-bed house.
One Saturday when he was working on the site, Mr Lawlor drove in, dressed in a tracksuit, Mr Ross said.
He showed some surprise when told that the site was not located in Lucan and said he would "look into it".
He said three or four days later, Mr Lawlor returned and said: "I might have some good news for you. I can have the address put right for you. But you're going to have to pay me."
Mr Ross said the politician asked for either £30,000 or £50,000. He said he could not believe it and told Mr Lawlor the amount was very high. "That's what it will cost you. That's what it's worth to your houses," Mr Lawlor is said to have replied. Mr Ross said he could pay £20,000 in cash, which Mr Lawlor accepted.
He collected the money from Mr Ross's house later that evening.
Mr Ross said the selling agent was provided with a letter from An Post stating that the postal address of Earlsfort was in Lucan. But he had not been able to find this letter. Asked if he had considered whether there was anything wrong or inappropriate in handing over this money to Mr Lawlor, the witness replied: "No".
He thought Mr Lawlor, as a politician, had the power to do "this type of thing".
He told Mr John Gallagher SC, for the tribunal, that he had not made any representation to An Post about the matter. He had been thinking of this when Mr Lawlor called into his site.
In July 1996, Mr Ross said he made a further payment of £20,000 to Mr Lawlor.
One evening, Mr Lawlor came to his office and asked for money.
He asked for cash, saying: "Things are going well for Earlsfort because of what I done for you."
Mr Ross asked how much he was looking for.
Mr Lawlor asked for £20,000 or £30,000. "I said to him: 'when is this going to stop?' I wasn't happy with the man. This was getting on my nerves. He was coming more often than I wanted to see him."
Mr Lawlor offered to provide Mr Ross with an invoice. The following day, he gave the builder an invoice in the name of Baltic Timber Products for an amount of £20,002.79. This was done "to make it look official".
Asked who suggested this, Mr Ross said "it certainly wasn't me".
Asked if he considered it a legitimate invoice, he conceded that he had "some doubts" about it.
The cheque was lodged to an account in London, his accountant had told him.
Mr Lawlor's "justification" was that he had had the postal address of the houses at Earlsfort changed.
