Cllr Marian McGennis was "riding two horses" in the run up to the general election in 1992 by publicly supporting the Blanchardstown shopping centre development while secretly supporting the Quarryvale development, the tribunal was told yesterday.
Lobbyist Frank Dunlop outlined how he paid for 25,000 leaflets for Ms McGennis in advance of the election and a crucial vote on Quarryvale at Dublin County Council. He also paid for bus shelter posters for the Fianna Fáil councillor. The bills were ultimately passed on to Cork developer Owen O'Callaghan, who was behind the Quarryvale project.
The tribunal heard that the two opposing projects, Quarryvale and Blanchardstown, were contentious and support for one or the other had cost some councillors their seats in local elections.
Publicly, Ms McGennis had consistently supported Blanchardstown, developed by Green Properties. But, Mr Dunlop said, she was also part of a strategy group which planned how best to get Quarryvale approved by the council. She attended meetings at Mr Dunlop's office and she intimated she would speak to a planning officer about the project.
"We knew that Ms McGennis, to use a rather crude phrase, was riding two horses," he said.
Counsel for the tribunal Patricia Dillon SC asked if anyone knew of Ms McGennis's true position. Mr Dunlop said other members of the strategy group did, along with "certain circles" in the council.
"It's not something that would have been known by Ms McGennis's constituents?" Ms Dillon asked. "Oh gosh, no!" Mr Dunlop replied.
Mr Dunlop also paid for Fine Gael Dublin councillor Therese Ridge to fly to Cork and accompanied her there to help in her Seanad election campaign. They met Mr O'Callaghan and he introduced Ms Ridge to councillors voting in the Seanad election.
Ms Dillon asked if the cost of Ms Ridge's bills had been passed on to Mr O'Callaghan. Mr Dunlop said they were.
Ms Dillon highlighted two invoices issued by Mr Dunlop shortly after the Quarryvale development was approved by councillors. She read details of one of the invoices, for almost £65,000, issued on December 21st, 1992, to Riga Ltd, Mr O'Callaghan's company, three days after the vote.
It included security expenses, miscellaneous expenses and contributions. Ms Dillon pointed out that a contribution was listed for St Bernadette's Material Fund and valued at £1,000, but in fact the fund had only received £500.
Ms Dillon asked Mr Dunlop if he had "built in a fee" for himself into the payments listed. He said he had included a "handling charge" in the region of 25 to 40 per cent and it had been the practice in the industry to do so.
The tribunal heard that in April 1993, there was an attempt by the late Liam Lawlor to alter the cap imposed on Quarryvale in December 1992. Councillors had voted to accept the project as part of the development plan, but with a cap of 250,000sq ft.
The amendment changed the cap from "not exceeding 250,000sq ft" to "in the order of but not exceeding 250,000sq ft of retail shopping". "District centre" was also changed to "district/ town centre". This meant the size of the centre was no longer an absolute, Ms Dillon said.
