Olivia Kelly & Martin Wall  11/11/2006 Irish Times

Mahon tribunal: A senior Christian Brother has said he wrote to the former Fianna Fáil minister Ray Burke in 1993 to thank him for Fianna Fáil's support in passing a Dublin County Council rezoning motion, even though Mr Burke had not been a member of the council since 1987.  The Christian Brothers were in the early to mid-1990s seeking to have 70 acres of their land at Balheary near Swords in north Dublin, which was agricultural, rezoned for development. The tribunal is investigating three unsuccessful attempts to have the land rezoned between 1991 and 1995.

The former Provincial Superior of St Mary's province of the Christian Brothers, Brother John Heneghan, told the tribunal that the Christian Brothers had entered into an agreement with developer Joe Tiernan to give him "first refusal" on the sale of the lands, should rezoning be successful. Both the Christian Brothers and Mr Tiernan became involved in lobbying councillors for their vote on a motion to rezone the lands. In May 1993, the motion was passed and Brother Heneghan wrote to Mr Burke to "express appreciation" for the support of the Fianna Fáil councillors in passing the motion.

Brother Heneghan said he wrote the letter because he was advised to do so by Fianna Fáil councillor GV Wright. "I wouldn't have written it otherwise" he said. Brother Heneghan said he had the impression that Mr Burke would have significant influence on how councillors voted. "I certainly got it from the way Mr Wright spoke, I cannot state precisely where I got it, but I got the impression from some of the councillors that he had an influence on the councillors." Brother Heneghan said he was aware at this time that Frank Dunlop was lobbying councillors for the rezoning on behalf of Mr Tiernan. Mr Dunlop has alleged that he paid four councillors £1,000 each for their support in the rezoning bid in 1993. He has told the tribunal neither the Christian Brothers nor Mr Tiernan had been aware of payments made to politicians in relation to the land.

Brother Heneghan yesterday confirmed that he had no knowledge of the payments and said he would have considered them "totally wrong" had he known. Earlier, he said he had forgotten about the extent of the involvement of Mr Dunlop in attempts to secure the rezoning. In its statement to the tribunal, the congregation had maintained that it only became aware of Mr Dunlop's role in October 1993. Brother Heneghan now accepts that the Christian Brothers knew about Mr Dunlop's role in 1991. However, Brother Heneghan rejected suggestions made by counsel for the tribunal Henry Murphy SC that the congregation had sought to "write Mr Dunlop out of the script". Brother Heneghan said the Christian Brothers had learned of Mr Dunlop's involvement in lobbying councillors about the land during one of a number of the periods he had been out of the country between 1991 and 1993. In putting a precise date on this when drafting their statement they had opted for the wrong period when he had been abroad.