Mahon to investigate ownership of Dublin lands

The Mahon tribunal said today that Mr Liam Lawlor, Mr Jim Kennedy and Mr John Caldwell are involved with lands in Carrickmines…

The Mahon tribunal said today that Mr Liam Lawlor, Mr Jim Kennedy and Mr John Caldwell are involved with lands in Carrickmines.

However, it did not say the three men owned the lands as had been expected.

Counsel for the tribunal, Mr Des O'Neill SC, said in the tribunal's opening statement on the current module about ownership of lands in Carrickmines, Lucan and Baldoyle it was not possible for the tribunal to " pronounce upon the precise structures and mechanisms" of who or how the lands were owned.

The tribunal has discovered a myriad of offshore companies connected to Jackson Way Ltd - the British shelf company that owns the lands. It has been unable to find who the Irish beneficial owners of the lands are.

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However, Mr O'Neill said: "In conclusion, it seems from the documentation presently available to the

Tribunal relating to the Carrickmines lands that there was an involvement on the part of Mr James Kennedy, Mr John Caldwell, Mr Liam Lawlor, Mr Martin Bullock, Mr Nicholas Morgan and his trust company. The full picture is obscured by the absent of co-operation from Mr Kennedy and the present inability to procure the files of Mr. Nicholas Morgan.

Earlier, the tribunal said it was to investigate the ownership of lands in Baldoyle and Lucan and any connection that may exist with Mr Lawlor, Mr Kennedy, and Mr Caldwell.

In its opening statement regarding the forthcoming module of inquiry, tribunal lawyers said that elaborate steps had been taken to conceal the identity of owners or option holders of lands in Lucan, Co Dublin and Baldoyle, Co Dublin, that had rezoning applications made on them.

The statement said that prior to 1979 the lands were owned by persons unconnected with Mr Lawlor, Mr Kennedy and Mr Caldwell, but that by the end of the 1980s all the lands were subjected to rezoning attempts by persons connected to Mr Lawlor, Mr Kennedy and Mr Caldwell.

It added that the tribunal's investigations suggested there was a close connection between the three men despite constant denials to the contrary by Mr Lawlor.

The three were believed by the tribunal to have been working "in concert" in trying to get the lands rezoned but, because of the elaborate use of foreign companies to mask the ownership of the lands, it was unclear to the tribunal which individual played what role in each transaction.