BACKGROUND:THE FORMER Fianna Fáil senator Don Lydon became a controversial figure in the latter part of his political career, especially after allegations made at the planning tribunal (and vigorously denied by him) that he accepted bribes from Frank Dunlop and others in return for supporting land rezonings.
Mr Lydon (72) has had a varied career that has encompassed showbands, psychology and politics. He was born in Dublin but brought up in Co Donegal. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, he was the drummer with the moderately successful Galway showband, The Philosophers.
He finished a BA in University College Galway and completed postgraduate qualifications in psychology. He later moved to Dublin to work as a consultant psychologist at St John of God’s Hospital in Stillorgan, where he eventually became head of psychology.
During one of several appearances at the planning tribunal, Mr Lydon said that his ambition had always been to become a senator. He was first elected as a councillor in 1985 and was a member of Seanad Éireann for 20 years, from 1987 to 2007, when he lost his seat. Given the damaging allegations that had been levelled against him, Fianna Fáil did not nominate him as an official candidate for the Seanad elections. Instead, Mr Lydon persuaded four senators to nominate him but was eliminated on the 12th count.
A career senator, Mr Lydon never stood for the Dáil and his Seanad record is unremarkable, save for his strong anti-abortion views, morally conservative views and his membership of several Catholic organisations.
However, he first came to prominence in 1993 when he grabbed the Green Party TD Trevor Sargent in a headlock at a meeting of Dublin Corporation. Mr Sargent had waved a cheque sent to him by a developer as an example of the kind of behaviour of developers. Mr Lydon tried to wrest the cheque from Mr Sargent’s grasp. He later tried to justify the act as a harmless fun and “a piece of craic” and a bit of “devilment”. The subject of the “devilment”, Mr Sargent, has described it as an assault.
A decade later, Mr Lydon made the first of several appearances at the Mahon tribunal where he was asked to respond to allegations by PR consultant Frank Dunlop that he handed over £3,000 to Mr Lydon at his office at St John of God’s in 1992 in relation to the rezoning of lands at Carrickmines, Co Dublin, for development.
Mr Lydon denied the allegation but did accept that he had received £1,000 from Mr Dunlop but insisted it was a political donation. It also emerged that Mr Lydon had failed to inform an internal inquiry held by Fianna Fáil that he received money totalling £7,000 from another prominent developer, Christopher Jones. Mr Lydon later voted in favour of rezoning lands owned by Mr Jones but said the donations had played no influence on his decision. He told the planning tribunal: “Mr Jones was a very kind and generous man who gave money at different times to various councillors.”
Last year, Prime Time Investigates reported that Mr Lydon was one of several prominent people who had benefited from “fast-track” mortgages organised by Michael Fingleton at Irish Nationwide. The programme said he had availed of loans worth some €3 million.
In his last declaration for the Seanad Register of Interest in 2006, Mr Lydon declared, under the “Land” section, interest in six properties in Dublin, Donegal and Tipperary, outside of the family home. Included among those is the house and garden at Murray Lodge, Killybegs, Co Donegal. For income from the property, he states, “nothing at the moment”.
