A former environmental activist has claimed late developer Phil Monahan boasted he was bribing a prominent Fine Gael politician to support a south Dublin rezoning.
Michael Smith admitted to the Mahon Tribunal that Mr Monahan may have been mischievous in his allegation against former TD Sean Barrett, who was on record as opposing the proposed development at Cherrywood.
Mr Smith claims Mr Monahan made the allegation during an exchange outside a public meeting about the development in 1992.
The former activist added that Mr Monahan told him he would win the rezoning at the final stage because he was paying councillors and in particular Sean Barrett would ensure that Fine Gael councillors outside the area supported it.
He claimed Mr Monahan also said that Mr Barrett insured his racehorses.
Mr Smith said he did not know if the allegation was true but felt it definitely said something about Mr Monahan.
Under cross-examination, he admitted that Mr Monahan may have said this to discredit an opponent of the project.
Paul O'Higgins, SC for Mr Barrett, said this malicious rumour had done a great deal of damage to his client for the past 14 years.
Mr O'Higgins pointed out that that Mr Barrett had not insured Mr Monahan's racehorses and that was something that could have been checked.
Mr Smith said that Mr Barrett had accepted donations from Monarch Properties and the rezoning did happen the way Mr Monahan had predicted, with some Fine Gael councillors changing their position to support the rezoning.
