04.11.09
Posted in Archaeology, Corruption Watch, Historical Importance of Tara, News, Spiritual Importance of Tara, Transport at 5:58 pm by Vincent
Wood you believe it? Stonehenge find at Tara
Irish Independent – Saturday April 11 2009
SCIENTISTS have unearthed what appears to be a mammoth wooden version of the famous Stonehenge monument at the Hill of Tara. In a revealing new RTE documentary, many theories and insights into the country’s prehistoric past and 150,000 ancient monuments are unveiled and explained. For the first time, people will be able to view a computer-generated recreation of what archaeologists believe was a major wooden structure — a version of Britain’s Stonehenge — at the ancient seat of the Irish high kings in the Hill of Tara in Co Meath. Archaeologist Joe Fenwick revealed a LiDAR (Light Detecting and Ranging) laser beam had been used to scan the ground surface to create a three-dimensional map, which revealed more than 30 monuments around Tara.
Using another technique — described as taking an X-ray through the hillside — archaeologists discovered the huge monument, a ditch stretching six metres wide and three metres deep in the bedrock. The ditch, circling the Mound of the Hostages passage tomb, separated the outside world from the ceremonial centre of Tara. It was believed the ancient architects had also surrounded the ditch with a massive wooden structure on each side — a version of Stonehenge — on a large scale. Its sheer size meant a whole forest would have had to be cleared to build it.
“In scale, it is comparable, for example, to Croke Park’s pitch. The Hill of Tara had enormous ritual significance over the course of 5,000-6,000 years, so it’s not surprising that you get monuments of the scale of the ditch pit circle,” said Mr Fenwick, from the Department of Archaeology, NUI Galway. Cutting-edge technology is helping to provide a new insight into the lives of our ancestors, according to the documentary makers behind ‘Secrets of the Stones’.
Civilisation
It shows Ireland’s first civilisation began 7,000 years ago, they withstood major climatic changes and voyaged throughout Europe, returning with new religions and mementos. An RTE spokesman said the broadcaster, along with the Department of Education, would be sending two free copies of the book accompanying the series to all second-level schools in the country. The first part of the ‘Secrets of the Stones’ will be shown on RTE One at 6.30pm on Easter Monday.
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12.09.08
Posted in Archaeology, Corruption Watch, News at 10:07 am by Vincent
TaraWatch has been accepted by the United Nations and added to the register of UN Global Compact participants. Campaigners to save the Hill of Tara from the M3 motorway will now ask the UN to bring all public and private stakeholders in the controversy to the negotiating table. The UN Global Compact is a strategic policy initiative for businesses that are committed to aligning their operations and strategies with ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption.
A formal request for stakeholder engagement has already been sent to the Spanish construction company, Ferrovial, who sent a reply indicating they were awaiting documentation from their Irish subsidiary. Now, all other stakeholders will receive a similar request, along with Government parties. The contract is to design, build, finance and operate the 50km M3 Clonee to North of Kells project under a 45-year concession. EuroLink M3 is owned by SIAC and Cintra (Concessiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte S.A.). Cintra is a subsidiary of the leading international infrastructure developer, Grupo Ferrovial S.A. Senior debt for the project has been provided by Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A., Banco Santander Central Hispano, S.A. and Calyon. All of these parties will now be asked to participate in stakeholder emgagement, under the aegis of the UN. The following is the letter received from the UN Global Compact:
Dear TaraWatch,
Welcome to the United Nations Global Compact! We thank you for joining the world’s largest voluntary corporate responsibility initiative. This letter is to inform you that TaraWatch has been added to the register of Global Compact participants. As a participant, a company makes a commitment:
* to set in motion changes to business operations so that the Global Compact and its ten principles become part of strategy, culture and day-to-day operations;
* to publicly advocate the Global Compact and its principles via available communications channels; and
* to communicate annually and publicly on progress made in implementing the Global Compact principles.
An official welcome letter and an information package on the Global Compact will be sent to your organization’s top executive by mail. More information and guidance on engagement opportunities and expectations can be found on the Global Compact website.
Sincerely,
The Global Compact Office
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10.13.08
Posted in Corruption Watch, News, Tolls, Transport at 2:19 pm by Vincent
TaraWatch asks auditor general to probe €16bn NRA overspend
Irish examiner – Monday, October 13, 2008 – By Eoin English
ACTIVISTS will accuse the State’s roads building body today of a staggering €16 billion overspend — more than the spiralling national debt. TaraWatch, the group fighting the building of the M3 motorway at the Hill of Tara, will also call for a halt on future road projects. It said it will lodge its complaint against the National Roads Authority (NRA) with the State’s spending watchdog, the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG), accusing it of rampant overspending since 2000.
“The C&AG has primary responsibility for ensuring value for money in public spending,” TaraWatch spokesman Vincent Salafia said. “It should not allow one penny to be spent until there has been cost-benefit analysis and Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) on every single road plan. “It is illegal and disgraceful for the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) to now negotiate more cost-plus, rather than fixed-price contracts, and a continuation of business as usual. “The NRA didn’t even have an accountant in their office until 2004. They have gotten away with murder, as have the construction companies that hauled off truckloads of taxpayers’ money.” He said TaraWatch wants the C&AG to freeze all public spending on NRA projects under the National Development Plan, until a cost-benefit analysis has been carried out.
The C&AG has expressed concerns about the spending controls on roads projects. In 2002 the NRA was summoned before the Public Accounts Committee to explain a massive €6.6bn overrun. By 2004, the overrun had gone up to €10bn. TaraWatch said an engineers report it commissioned, and submitted to the Department of Finance on Friday, shows how the M3 motorway will cost the taxpayer an extra €1.8bn, and will be responsible for €320 million in emissions penalties. The NRA was unavailable for comment yesterday.
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07.28.08
Posted in Archaeology, Corruption Watch, Historical Importance of Tara, News at 10:24 am by Vincent
IRISH TIMES – Protection Plan to be piloted in Tara valley
HERITAGE COUNCIL PRESS RELEASE
Pilot Project Announced for Tara Skryne Landscape to Enable Better Planning Decisions and Management of the Countryside
Date: Sun, 27 Jul 2008
The Heritage Council has announced funding for a pilot project designed to significantly improve the way we manage and plan for development and economic growth in the countryside.
The pilot project will be carried out in the Tara Skryne landscape in Co. Meath by the Heritage Council in conjunction with Meath County Council. It aims to provide a framework for better planning decisions in the future as well as safeguard the environment, quality of life and the heritage aspects of one of the most important and controversial landscapes in the country. As part of the project, a landscape management plan will be developed and agreed with the local community and key stakeholders on how the landscape that they live, work or enjoy leisure activity in is developed and managed. It will also progress the Meath County Development Plan objective to designate a Landscape Conservation Area.
Announcing the approval of a budget of 25,000 euro from the Heritage Council to get the project started this year, Michael Starrett, Chief Executive of the Council said “Last year the Government announced that it is committed to developing a National Landscape Strategy. This is a further step in making that happen. The Heritage Council has been actively promoting the introduction of Landscape Management Plans for many years and we are particularly pleased that John Gormley T.D., Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government is supporting this plan and is committed to the introduction of a Landscape Management Strategy. Landscape management is about accommodating change and development. It provides a much more holistic approach than the current model to planning how we manage and develop the landscape where we live. It enables local communities to play an essential role in the managing their own area and has been very successful when introduced in other European countries. This project is about finding a successful model that can be applied to special landscapes across the country and I am particularly pleased that the first test project is located in the Tara Skryne landscape. Another pilot is planned for the Burren and we hope to make an announcement of the commencement of that project in the near future”.
Michael Starrett continued. “With or without the new motorway, the Tara Skryne landscape is very special and it deserves special attention to ensure that future decisions and changes are made using the best tools available. People have conflicting interests and views on how the land we inhabit is used. All views are equally valid and this project is designed to bring conflicting views and interests together, along with planning and environmental legislation, and agree a plan for the landscape going forward that resolves conflicting interests or allows them to exist in a way that brings economic social and environmental benefits for landowners, residents and visitors alike. This is a challenging and potentially very rewarding project. It is the first time it has been tried in Ireland and we want all stakeholders with an interest in this landscape to take part in the development of this plan. Further announcements will be made in the autumn when the public consultation phase commences and we look forward to and welcome extensive public participation and debate in the development of this plan”.
Commenting on the announcement of the Heritage Council funding for the project, Meath County Manager, Tom Dowling said. “We are looking forward to working with the Heritage Council on this project and progressing the policy in the County Development Plan”.
Last year, separate studies carried out by the Heritage Council and Failte Ireland found that there was an urgent need to provide clear guidelines on land use for amenity, heritage, tourism, housing and infrastructure development and other uses. The studies found that Ireland is now the only country in Western Europe that has not specifically legislated for the planning, management and conservation of its landscapes on a consistent national level. This view is supported by recent European Environment Agency digital mapping which shows that Ireland has experienced unprecedented urbanisation and landscape fragmentation over the past number of years due to extensive new housing, major road and other infrastructure projects. This has affected open countryside, villages and towns in all parts of the country and the extent of the impact on the landscape is greater than in other parts of Europe. Most importantly it is having detrimental effects on our overall quality of life, on the water we drink and the air that we breathe.
Work on the Tara Skryne Landscape Management Plan will commence this autumn. The initial stage of the project is expected to be completed within 18-24 months. It will build on the existing landscape characterisation map for the area and examines current and potential land use and develop a plan for the area led by the local authority in conjunction with the local community. The Heritage Council and Meath County Council will initially provide funding for the project. Addition funding is expected from the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government next year. The cost of project is expected to be in the region of 125,000 euro.
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06.29.08
Posted in Archaeology, Corruption Watch, News, Transport at 10:33 pm by Vincent
38 sites discovered during test-trenching, on M3 route
Press Association: M-way campaigners seek legal advice
Irish Independent: Tara campaigners in bid to have M3 motorway ruling struck out
My findings on Tara were altered, says archaeologist
Irish Mail on Sunday - 29 June 2008 – By Luke Byrne
A LEADING archaeologist employed to survey the M3 Tara Valley route has claimed her findings were changed to support the motorway when in fact there was evidence against it. In a devastating attack, Jo Ronayne – who was working for the National Roads Authority – says her findings were altered before being presented to ministers. Miss Ronayne, who was an excavation director at the Tara valley site in Co. Meath, claims she was told to ‘change interpretations’ so as to ‘lessen to potential of numbers of sites’. And she says she was excluded from NRA meetings in which her evidence was altered before reports were passed on to the Government. The damning allegations will shatter the Governments defence that it would not change the Tara route because there is no significant archaeological site on it. And it will lead to disturbing questions about whether ministers – and in turn the public or even the courts – were misled about the archaeological finds.
Miss Ronayne, who was directly employed by NRA subcontractor Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd, suggests in an explosive academic article that her role appeared to have been a sham. ‘I didn’t realise that the testing and my reports would be used to facilitate rather than stop the project going ahead. Or that they don’t let you write the truth in the reports or give you enough time to do a proper job,’ she wrote. The archaeologist – whose sister Maggie, an archaeology lecturer in NUI Galway, is due to attend today’s World Archaeological Congress in Dublin – remains utterly disenchanted with how she says her reports were used and portrayed. She said: ‘I held the licence and was responsible for the work, but the NRA archaeologist would come down and tell me what I should be doing. ‘Directors or field archaeologists working on the sites were not allowed to attend meetings where decisions were made by the NRA’s own archaeologists about how to interpret and present what we were finding.’ She added: ‘A number of times I was told to change an interpretation which served to lessen the potential numbers of sites. We were also told to excavate large sections even tough you are not supposed to excavate in the testing phase. ‘They edited our reports before the Minister saw them.’
In May 2005, following preliminary archaeological reports made by the NRA, the then-environment minister Dick Roche sanctioned 38 archaeological excavations in the Tara-Skryne valley in Co. Meath, effectively approving the route. It was reports such as those complied by Miss Ronayne that Mr Roche would have been presented with before he eventually gave his approval for the project. Following the decision to go ahead with the road, Miss Ronayne and a number of archaeologists refused to work on the excavations. Since the route of the M3 was approved, there have been a number of protests aimed at highlighting the archaeological value of the stretch of motorway.
However, the results of initial test-trenching were often highlighted by advocates of the route of the motorway. In March 2005, Frank Cosgrave of the Meath Citizens for the M3 group, told the Joint Committee on Environment and Local Government: ‘Nothing that could be described as a “national monument” has been found.” At the same meeting, Cork TD Billy Kelliher said: ‘The argument put forward by the archaeologists with regard to the richness of the area is a bit of a myth.’ Labour Environment spokeswoman Joanna Tuffy said: “If this is true, I think we need to bring in a completely independent archaeological survey to make sure that anything that can be salvaged will be. ‘At this stage we’ve already gone too far so we can’t turn back.’ Miss Tuffy added: ‘This incident is something that I will raise in the Dail.
Truth on Tara was buried deep due to culture of lies
Irish Mail on Sunday - EDITORIAL
29 June 2008
BUILDING a much-needed road ought to be reasonably straightforward. Yet, years after Meath commuters were promised the M3 motorway, the project has been hit by another completely avoidable scandal. The revelation of official interference in the archaeological studies at Tara mean more misery for those stuck in tailbacks, but it is the culture of official deception that poses the gravest questions.
A lot of people have been badly misled. Archaeologists hired for their professional expertise and integrity have not in the words of one, been allowed to ‘write the truth’. Altering independent advice to fit hidden agendas is a dangerous corruption of working of Government in itself, more typical of systematically dishonest regimes than a democratic country like ours. Dail and public debates were based on information that cannot now be trusted. The courts have been asked to make judgments premised, in part, on studies that contain the taint of offical tampering. And a difficult decision whether to put the real needs of the travelling public nover the genuine loss of a part of our patrimony has been subverted by bureaucrats trusted to give us accurate information.
Those responsible cannot be allowed to hide behind the monolithic facade of the public sector. This is a dishonest decision with serious consequences. The individuals responsible – who must be known to those who can blow the whistle on their misdeeds – must be held to account. But the culture of dishonesty that makes such flagrant interference possible is harder to root out without clear direction from the very top. This is a Government that routinely plays fast and loose with the accuracy of the information it serves up. Bitter experience has taught the public not to take on trust the official information it receives. Yet the truth will always out. Public confidence in politics is as low as it is because political standards are so low. This sort of deliberate dishonesty needs to be stamped out, with the Taoiseach and the Cabinet setting standards at the top.
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07.28.06
Posted in Archaeology, Corruption Watch, Historical Importance of Tara, Litigation, Maps, News at 10:11 am by Vincent
Click map to enlarge
The day after the Supreme Court handed down its third and final decision on Carrickmines Castle, an article appeared in The Irish Times, stating that the Criminal Assets Bureau had gone to the High Court to block the sale of Jackson Way lands, which lie directly adjacent to Carrickmines Castle, and freeze the assests of the off-shore company, Jackson Way.
The entire Carrickmines Castle controversey could have been avoided, and the castle saved, if the original route of the South Eastern Motorway leg of the M50 had been picked, as it avoided the castle remains. But that route was inexplicably changed, to go through both the castle site and the lands owned by Jackson Way, that became the subject of an investigation by the Mahon (Flood) Planning Tribunal.Let’s find out if there is anything improper at Tara BEFORE it is too late.
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04.24.06
Posted in Corruption Watch at 8:12 am by johnk
Ireland on Sunday
2005-10-09John Lee, political correspondent,
Major developers who are also financial backers of Fianna Fáil stand to make millions from the controversial M3 motorway which conservationists say will destroy the historic Hill of Tara.
A company controlled by multi-millionaire builder Joseph Murphy Jr – whose main business, JMSE, was exposed as corrupt the Flood tribunal – owns valuable lands along the route.
So too does multi-millionaire Fianna Fáil backer Cathal McCarthy, formerly a business partner of Frank Dunlop, the corrupt former government press secretary, and of Des Richardson, a close friend of the Taoiseach.
Both Mr Murphy and Mr McCarthy stand to make millions from the sale of land needed for the motorway – which campaigners say will destroy some of our most important archaeological sites – and for the construction of intersections.
But Mr Murphy, in particular, stands to make even more substantial profits from the hundreds of acres of land which he owns within a few miles of the motorway route and which may well be opened up for development once construction is completed.
Support for the M3 route formed a major part of the Fianna Fáil campaign in Friday’s by-election – even though archaeologists and ecological activists have compared it to Egypt’s Valley of the Kings and insist that it should be preserved.
Mr Murphy faces an investigation by the Criminal Assets Bureau after playing a central role in the Flood/Mahon Tribunal into planning corruption.
Mr Murphy and Frank Reynolds, the former managing director of JMSE who was also condemned by Mr Justice Fergus Flood, are beneficial directors of Newland Properties Ltd with an address at Ashley House, Batterstown, Co Meath.
Newland Properties owns 26 acres in Roestown, Ratoath, Co Meath, of which five-and-a-half acres are subject to compulsory purchase by Meath County Council for construction of the M3.
But in recent years, Newland Properties has bought up more than 130 acres in nearby Ratoath, Dunshaughlin, Dunboyne and ther parts of south Meath near the proposed route.
Though the CPO on the five-and-half acres is expected to net the company about €5m, the real potential for profit is in its other properties beside and near the M3 route. Inevitably, there will be pressure to rezone this land for housing and industrial development – a move that would bring in millions more for the two building magnates, according to property experts.
Frank Reynolds said the company owned more than 100 acres “if you take in Dublin and other places”. “I think if you ask anybody whose land will be affected by the M3 or N2, they would say they’d rather have the land. I wouldn’t say I’d make a killing on it. You can’t do much with land that has a road running through it”, said Mr Reynolds.“I don’t know if you can do much with it building-wise as people don’t want to live by a motorway”.
Land Registry documents show that Newland Properties also has a massive land portfolio in Dublin. JMSE has made huge financial contributions to Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats.
Tribunal star James Gogarty, when accompanying Joseph Murphy and another corrupt building tycoon, Mick Bailey, to a 1989 meeting with now jailed ex-minister Ray Burke to make a corrupt €30,000 contribution, innocently asked: “Will we get a receipt?”
“Will we f***,” was the reply.
Cathal McCarthy, meanwhile, has made millions from the development of Navan town centre in partnership with another rich developer, Gerry Duignan. IoS has seen files that show Mr McCarthy owns 12 acres at the most controversial interchange on the motorway – right beside the Hill of Tara, ancient seat of the High Kings of Ireland.
An additional 200-acre landback beside the interchange site was transferred to the name of Mr McCarthy since April 2004. The land is highly valuable given its proximity to the interchange and the M3. Opponents of the current route of the new motorway argue that the 29-acre, floodlit interchange will damage the Hill of Tara.
It has also been learned that in 1999, Mr McCarthy and Mr Duignan – registered with the Public Offices Commission as Duignan & McCarthy, PO Box 44, Navan, Co Meath – contributed £30,500 to Fianna Fáil.
The contributions are listed as ‘£2,500 for attendance at a fundraiser, £3,000 for attendance at a fundraiser and £25,000 for attendance at a fundraiser’.
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04.23.06
Posted in Corruption Watch, Internet Activism at 12:41 pm by johnk
The Sunday Times
April 23, 2006
Company awarded N6 contract caught in corruption probe
Enda Leahy
THE parent company of an Irish construction firm awarded a €100m contract to build a section of the Dublin-Galway road was investigated for contract bid fixing and corruption, it has emerged.
Two employees of Jacobs Engineering, a multinational construction company, were convicted last year in America for their role in obtaining confidential details of competitors’ bids for an $800m (€650m) building project. During the trial it was alleged that Jacobs’ employees got inside information about rival bids for a convention centre in Chicago from a lobbying company it was paying. It subsequently won the contract, worth $11.5m (€9m), after reducing its estimate by more than one-third.
Last week Jacobs’ Irish arm, which lists American and Canadian-based directors on its accounts, was awarded the tender to provide engineering, procurement and construction services for a 20km stretch of road on the N6 between Ballinasloe and Athlone. The National Roads Authority (NRA), one of the bodies that awarded the contract, said it was unaware of the corruption investigation, conducted by the US attorney’s office. It said the tendering process it adopts is rigorously checked and all candidates are vetted for their ability to successfully and efficiently carry out a contract. There is no suggestion of any impropriety in relation to the N6 tender.
Jacobs has been operating in Ireland since 1974. The Irish company’s immediate controlling firm is Jacobs Engineering Espana SL, but the company’s ultimate parent is Jacobs Engineering Group Inc in America. Last year James Nagle and Elizabeth Koski, former employees of the American-based company, were sentenced to five years’ probation, given a $4,000 (€3,250) fine and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service for their role in the Chicago scandal.
Nagle, who was the Chicago office manager and the company’s chief operations manager in charge of obtaining the contract to expand the Chicago Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (McPier) building, said senior staff throughout the company were also aware of secretly obtained information relating to their competitors’ bids for the deal. The company initially submitted a bid of $18.8m (€15.2m) but dropped it by $7.3m (€5.9m) to win the contract. This was after Nagle received inside information about a rival’s bid from Ronan Potts LLC, a lobbying firm.
In documents filed by the US attorney’s office, Nagle claimed the decision to reduce the bid was taken at an internal meeting of Jacobs personnel brought in from throughout America. The documents alleged: “At no point . . . did any Jacobs official object to having the information. To the contrary, the information was discussed in a routine manner throughout the process by [Nagle’s] supervisory panel.” In the months after the case, a Chicago schoolboard sued the company to recover $28m (€22.7m) after Jacobs’ renovations of three local high schools came in over budget.
Last week, inquiries to Jacobs in Ireland were passed to spokespeople in Scotland and America who refused to comment other than to say Nagle and Koski had been fired, and that winning the Galway contract was a success. The project, with a value of approximately €100m excluding land costs, is scheduled for completion in 2009. Jacobs is also designing a stretch of the N6 from Kinnegad and Kilbeggan after winning another tender last September.
The NRA said: “There are background checks in the tender process, but if any civil or criminal action has been taken against an organisation, particularly where there is a finding and they’ve been to trial and paid their dues, they would not be excluded from contractual contests.”
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Jacobs Engineering gets Ireland contract – Businessweek
Road deal with Jacobs – Galway Independent
Jacobs engineering case puts past contracts under scrutiny
NRA PRESS RELEASE<
National Roads Authority Appoints New Chief Executive
12th January, 2005
Mr. Barry (53) is currently Managing Director of Jacobs Engineering Ireland Ltd. from where he brings extensive experience in the design and construction of private and public sector projects both in Ireland and in a number of international locations.
A graduate of UCD in Civil Engineering, Mr. Barry worked on construction projects in Canada and Nigeria, before joining Jacobs in Dublin in 1980. During the 1980s he was promoted through various positions in contracts administration, project management and construction management. He moved to the USA in 1990, heading up Jacobs’ business in Northern California. He was appointed Managing Director of Jacobs Ireland in 1995. He spent a number of years in the UK as Managing Director of Jacobs UK business, returning again in 2000. He has also studied law in the Kings Inns and was called to the Bar in 1986.
Announcing the appointment, Mr. Peter Malone, Chairman, NRA said
“The Board is delighted to secure an executive of Fred’s calibre with proven technical and leadership qualities. This appointment underlines our commitment to deliver on the Government’s ambitious development programme creating a spine of high quality national routes between the nation’s cities for the common good. Fred will lead the NRA team in delivering on this mandate with an investment of up to €10 billion over the next five years, through a combination of the public purse and private investment, to developing an efficient and safe national network of motorways and main roads.”
For further information please contact
Caroline O’Brien, Communications Officer 01 6602511, Ext 254 086 6049430
New roads boss appointed on €300,000 salary package – Sunday Independent
Thu, Jan 13 05
A NEW chief executive has been appointed to the National Roads Authority (NRA) on a salary package in the region of €250,000 a year plus a performance bonus of 50pc, writes Treacy Hogan. Fred Barry (53), currently managing director of Jacobs Engineering Ireland Ltd, takes over in the top job from next April.
In a statement yesterday Peter Malone, NRA chairman said the appointment underlined its commitment to deliver on the Government’s ambitious development programme creating a spine of high quality national routes. “Fred will lead the NRA team in delivering on this mandate with an investment of up to €10bn over the next five years, through a combination of the public purse and private investment, to developing an efficient and safe national network of motorway and main roads,” he said./a>
The new chief executive is a civil engineering graduate of UCD and worked in construction projects in Canada and Nigeria before joining Jacobs Engineering in Dublin in 1980. Mr Barry also worked for Jacobs in the UK and the US. He succeeds Mr Michael Tobin.
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02.27.06
Posted in Corruption Watch, News at 3:00 pm by Vincent
Fianna Fail candidate hands over papers on Dunlop land deal
Mark BrennockThe Irish Times
Sat, Jan 22, 05
Fianna Fáil officials will spend the next few days examining documents given to them by their selected candidate for the Meath by-election, Mr Tommy Reilly, concerning his joint purchase of land with Mr Frank Dunlop in Meath in 1997.
Mr Reilly delivered his response to queries from the party
yesterday evening, according to a party spokeswoman.
This will be examined in the coming days to see if there is anything concerning the transaction that could prove damaging during the by-election campaign.
Mr Reilly has said that everything about the transaction was above board, and he has asked that Fianna Fáil confirm this quickly. The revelation of the land purchase with Mr Dunlop caused concern within the party because of Mr Dunlop’s past admission to having bribed Dublin councillors in the pursuit of land rezonings.
Mr Reilly was chosen at a selection convention before Christmas to run in the by-election.
However, the party’s national executive will not now consider whether to endorse him as the candidate until the examination of the land purchase is complete.
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FF to select Meath election candidate in place of land deal councillor
01.02.05
FIANNA Fáil will select a Meath by-election candidate before Friday, following the decision of Cllr Tommy Reilly to stand down. Mark Hennessy, Political Correspondent, reports.
Cllr Reilly’s election chances were under threat once it emerged that he had bought land in 1997 with the disgraced public relations consultant Mr Frank Dunlop. Using a third party, Fianna Fáil headquarters made it clear to Cllr Reilly over the weekend that he would not be ratified by the party’s National Executive.
The party’s constituency Comhairle Dáil Ceanntair is to interview candidates defeated by Cllr Reilly “between now and Friday”, according to its chairman, Mr Bosco Farrell.
The favourite is Mr Shane Cassells, a Navan-based councillor who did not run in the convention against Mr Reilly.
The other candidates expected to challenge are Ms Sharon Keogan, from Duleek; Mr James Mangan, Tara; Mr Dominic Moran, Kells; and Mr Adrian O’Donnell, Carlanstown.
Questioned about Cllr Reilly’s withdrawal, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said that he had “noted” his statement. “I obviously wish Tommy Reilly well,” Mr Ahern said. “It is regrettable for him, but obviously there was a lot of speculation and pressure.”
The Taoiseach pointed out that Fianna Fáil had a “very strong organisation” in Meath which would “engage immediately” in finding a candidate.
Although Cllr Reilly claimed he had “co-operated fully” with a Fianna Fáil inquiry into his land deal, it is understood that the party’s general secretary, Mr Seán Dorgan, was not satisfied that the files produced by him had dealt with all the questions raised.
Cllr Reilly and Mr Dunlop had used an Isle of Man-based shelf company, Hallering Developments, to buy the land, although their names were never publicly associated with it. The owner of Hallering was listed as Fovaranne Ltd, which has a post office box address in Alofi, Niue. Niue is a small island east of the South Pacific island of Tong
In an interview on the LMFM radio station yesterday, Cllr Reilly, who easily won a Fianna Fáil selection convention before Christmas, said that he had been victimised by the media. He was “stepping aside” because of the pressure on his family. “I am strong enough to go ahead with it, but I could not put them through it any longer,” he told the station’s Loose Talk programme.
Paying tribute to local politicians, Cllr Reilly said that each of his Fianna Fáil colleagues on Meath County Council had been ready to swear an affidavit that they had not been lobbied by him, or by anyone on his behalf, to rezone the 11 acres bought with Mr Dunlop at Eddoxtown, Co Meath.
The Fine Gael leader, Mr Enda Kenny, will launch a billboard campaign outside Leinster House today to promote the party’s candidates in Meath and Kildare North, Mr Shane McEntee and Mr Darren Scully.
The turmoil within Fianna Fáil should benefit Fine Gael’s chances in Meath, although the party needs to hold on to the seat vacated by the party’s former leader, Mr John Bruton.
Last night, Mr Farrell said that Fianna Fáil’s local organisation had been “disappointed” by the withdrawal of Cllr Reilly, adding: “We had seen him as having a top-class chance of taking the seat.”
Mr Farrell rejected suggestions that the new selection system would be limited to people who had run against Cllr Reilly at the selection convention – a move which would eliminate Cllr Cassells. The unsuccessful convention candidates would be asked if they were interested, as would anyone else who might have decided not to run because Mr Reilly was the candidate. “People from Navan could have run if Tommy Reilly had not been running”, he said.
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Party to check FF candidate’s land deal
Mark Brennock, Chief Political Correspondent
Wed, 19 Jan ‘05
Fianna Fáil is examining details of a land purchase made jointly by its Meath by-election candidate, Cllr Tommy Reilly, and Mr Frank Dunlop in 1997, before deciding whether its national executive will formally ratify Mr Reilly to run. He was selected at a convention before Christmas. Party sources said yesterday that a decision on ratification would now come only after party officers had examined all aspects of the land deal and were satisfied that all was in order. There is unease in some sections of the party in Meath and at some more senior levels of Fianna Fáil about the matter, although no allegation of wrongdoing or impropriety has emerged.
Senior party figures are concerned that any past business association between Mr Dunlop – who has said he bribed many Dublin councillors in the past – and their candidate may be electorally damaging, even if all aspects of the deal accorded with the highest standards. Mr Reilly told The Irish Times last night that “everything was legal and above board” in relation to the purchase by him, in partnership with Mr Dunlop, of around 10 acres in the townland of Edoxtown near Skryne, Co Meath. He had not put together all of the details yet, but had asked his solicitor to give Fianna Fáil all the information it required.
A Fianna Fáil spokeswoman said yesterday that the party had learned last Friday “that a number of questions had been put to Tommy Reilly by the local media regarding certain issues relating to property. “As soon as the party became aware of this, contact was made with Mr Reilly, and a meeting was sought with the candidate. “This meeting took place on Saturday, and there were discussions relating to the issues concerned. “Following that meeting, further questions are now being put to the candidate, and the party will be seeking comprehensive answers as part of their inquiries into the matter.” Mr Dunlop confirmed yesterday that he and Mr Reilly, who had known each other for 25 to 30 years, had jointly purchased between 10 and 11 acres of land. He believed they had done this in 1997 for £90,000 to £100,000 through a company used specifically for the purpose of buying that piece of land.
That company was registered with the Companies Registration Office, and everything was declared to the Revenue Commissioners, he said. “We did not have any great intentions for it”, said Mr Dunlop yesterday. “It is not near where you would be expecting any development to be taking place.” He said both he and Mr Reilly had thought that it might be possible at some point to build a house or houses on the land for family purposes – for a son or daughter. They had never considered making any attempt to have it rezoned or developed.
Mr Dunlop said the land, in the townland of Edoxtown near Skryne, “just sat there” for several years, with the two making no attempt to do anything with it. At some point Mr Reilly gave just over one acre to his daughter, who applied for planning permission to build a house at one end of the land. Mr Reilly bought out Mr Dunlop’s half of the land in 2002 or 2003 for the same price he had paid for it. Mr Dunlop said he could not recall whether the planning permission application had been made at that point. Mr Reilly’s daughter was granted planning permission for a house late last year after two appeals to An Bord Pleanaála.
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Posted in Corruption Watch, News at 2:32 pm by Vincent
Bertie’s link to Dunlop
Ireland on Sunday
February 15 2005
(John Lee)
Embarrassment over fundraiser’s deal with the disgraced lobbyist
The Taoiseach’s close friend and advisor, Des Richardson, is a partner of disgraced lobbyist Frank Dunlop in a speculative property investment.
The previously undisclosed business association between Mr Richardson and Mr Dunlop is acutely embarrassing for Bertie Ahern and will probably prompt a political storm. The Taoiseach has worked hard to dissociate his party from planning and financial corruption.
But this link between a member of his so-called ‘kitchen cabinet’ and a man who has been exposed as a key figure in the planning corruption scandal is acutely embarrassing. Recent revelations that Tommy Reilly – Fianna Fáil’s intended candidate in the upcoming Meath by-election – was involved in property speculation with Mr Dunlop were enough to see him stand down. But Mr Richardson is more than just a by-election candidate – he is a former party fundraiser, an intimate of Mr Ahern’s and a man with access to the inner sanctums of Government.
Mr Dunlop won overnight notoriety in 2000 when he was forced by the Flood Tribunal to confess that he had paid massive bribes to Dublin councillors in return for votes on planning applications. According to Land Registry documents seen by this newspaper, Mr Dunlop and Mr Richardson each own a 25pc stake in a valuable property in the centre of Navan. The site of less than one acre is at present a carpark but is at the centre of an area scheduled for major commercial development in the coming years.
The other equal partners are well-known Co Meath property developers Eamonn Duignan and Cathal McCarthy. The property is strategically important to a multi-million euro portfolio controlled by Mr Duignan and Mr McCarthy.
Business dealings involving Mr Richardson and Mr Dunlop have been investigated by the Flood Tribunal but it was believed all connections had been severed.
Sources close to the Taoiseach said he will be ‘apoplectic’ at the revelations coming so soon after the jailing of Ray Burke and the deselection of Mr Reilly.
Both Mr Dunlop and Mr Richardson confirmed that they had been involved in the investment but denied last night they were still in partnership. But documents filed at the Land Registry appear to contradict this claim.
Bizarrely, Mr Dunlop claimed he had left the partnership before 1997 – the year in which ownership of the site is first registered. Land Registry files show that Mr Richardson, Mr Dunlop, Mr Duignan and Mr McCarthy bought the land on Abbey Road near Kennedy Road, as a partnership in February 1997. All four give their address as 25 Lower Mount Street, Dublin 2 – the location of Frank Dunlop and Associates Mr Dunlop’s consultancy company.
Thirteen ‘dealings’ or transactions were carried out on the property between March 1997 and March 2004. Mr Duignan and Mr McCarthy own Navan Shopping Centre, which recently underwent a multi-million euro expansion. The shopping centre stands immediately opposite the controversial plot of land. Documents seen by Ireland on Sunday show that Mr Duignan, Mr McCarthy and Mr Richardson have been buying up land in the area since 1997. There is no record of Mr Dunlop’s involvement other than in the carpark.
Navan is one of the country’s fastest-growing towns, and property values have rocketed in recent years, Mr Duignan and Mr McCarthy made the news late last year when they offered more than 20m euro to members of Navan Pitch and Putt Club for their course. Some of the land partly owned by Mr Dunlop and Mr Richardson is now the subjedct of a compulsory purchase order by Meath County Council to create a civic space.
“It was something that was with the Companies Office a long time ago and I forgot all about it”, said Mr Dunlop. “Myself and Richardson bought a couple of small properties in Navan many years ago in the Kennedy and Trimgate Street area. It’s so long ago it was lost in the recesses of my mind”, he added. “but I decided I didn’t want to be involved and around 1995 and 1996 , I got out. But my name seems to have been left on it”.
“You’ll have to Duignan about that. He owns a lot of property in Navan, including Navan Shopping Centre.
“I got involved in the deal in the early ‘90s” added Mr Dunlop. “Duignan was a tenant of mine in Mount Street and he asked me to go into partnership with him on the deal”.
“But in 1996 I think, I decided I couldn’t remain in partnership and Duignan bought me out. We had, how should I say it, differences of opinion. We were the owners. There was no company – it was a partnership. “
Mr Dunlop’s assertion that he got out of the deal in 1995/6 appears to be incorrect, as the property was not acquired officially by the four men until 1997.
Mr Richardson also said the partnership with Mr Dunlop is at an end but said he was aware some of the property was the subject of a CPO.
“Frank Dunlop is not involved” Mr Richardson said last night. “As far as I know, he sold out a number of years ago – around five years ago, I think”.
Neither Mr Duignan or Mr McCarthy were available for comment yesterday.
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Opinion – Same old story from Fianna Fáil
It is the Achilles heel of Fianna Fáil. Every time it appears the Soldiers of Destiny have shaken off their links to the murky world of property speculation and planning corruption, another embarrassing connection seems to surface.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern is reported to have been ‘furious’ at the revelation last month that his chosen candidate in the Meath by-election, Cllr Tommy Reilly, was tarnished by his association with the disgraced Frank Dunlop. Cllr Reilly was dropped like a hot potato – and rightly so.
Now we discover that one of Mr Ahern’s closest associates, Des Richardson, has an almost identical association. This is not just embarrassing – it is a stark reminder that cronyism is still embedded at the very heart of the Irish political process and that Fianna Fáil, at its highest level, is still far more closely associated with property speculation than it cares to admit – or the rest of us would wish.
Mr Dunlop has gone out of his way in recent years in his efforts to persuade us that the days of the brown envelope and the quick buck are behind us, that this sort of activity was – as the former lobbyist likes to put it “part of the culture of the time” but that times have now changes, thank you very much, and that everything is now squeaky clean and above board.
It would be nice to take him at his word. But, instead, what do we discover? That one of the Taoiseach’s closest associates is still – as far as the Land Registry is concerned – a partner in a speculative property investment with somebody who has admitted to his part in wholesale bribery and corruption of the planning process.
What’s more, although Mr Dunlop’s own unsavoury role in planning corruption has been known for several years, there appears to have been no attempt to publicly terminate the relationship. Indeed, it might have gone unnoticed for years to come had the local authority not decided to compulsorily purchase a few feet of the site’s frontage for a public amenity.
Mr Ahern must take action. Either Mr Richardson must distance himself immediately – publicly and irrevocably – from Mr Dunlop, or the Taoiseach must distance himself equally clearly from Mr Richardson. There is a clear precedent – the example that was made of Cllr Reilly.
If an exception were to be made of Mr Richardson just because he happens to be a personal friend of the Taoiseach, this would be doubly monstrous. Irish politics has come a long way in recent years, we cannot afford to return to the bad old days. Our rulers, we have subsequently discovered, were frequently venal and corrupt throughout the 1970s and ‘80s. It has taken 10 long years – and millions of euros in tribunal lawyers’ fees – to untangle this web of deceit. That work must not be undone.
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RTE News: Reilly withdraws as candidate for by-election 
Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Dick Roche, goes on national television to lament Reilly’s withdrawal, just months before giving the OK for the excavations at Tara:
31 January 2005 19:46
The man who was expected to be Fianna Fáil’s candidate in a Dáil by-election in Co Meath, Tommy Reilly, has said he is no longer in the running for the post.
Mr Reilly, who is the chairman of Meath County Council, said he had been the subject of a witch-hunt by sections of the media over a field near the village of Skryne that he bought with the political lobbyist Frank Dunlop.
Mr Reilly said that for the sake of his family he had informed Fianna Fáil this morning that he was stepping aside as a candidate. Advertisement Email Services from RTE
The party had been investigating the land deal before ratifying him as its official candidate.
Councillor Reilly said he would not be standing as an independent, nor would he be leaving the party.
He said that he would support whoever the party chose but acknowledged that the Fianna Fáil campaign had been damaged locally.
Fianna Fáil said later it had noted Councillor Reilly’s decision, and that it will now be moving to find a replacement candidate as soon as possible.
Environment Minister Dick Roche said he was very sad to hear Tommy Reilly’s decision to withdraw his candidature.
He said it was very unfortunate for Cllr Reilly and his family, given that nearly everyone accepted he was not guilty of any wrongdoing.
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