Custom House Docks businessmen had links to Haughey

Five business figures linked to payments to the then Taoiseach, Mr Charles Haughey, were at the heart of one of the most lucrative public contracts awarded by Mr Haughey's 1987 government, it has emerged.

In October 1987 the Customs House Development Authority recommended a contract worth about £200 million (€254 million) should go to the Custom House Docks Development. The contract was for the development of a 27-acre site in the Dublin docks.

The board of the authority included the late Mr P.V. Doyle and Mr Noel Fox, both of whom have featured in the Moriarty Tribunal hearings, and Mr Michael Buckley, now a senior executive with AIB but then a senior executive with Mr Dermot Desmond's NCB.

The consortium which won the contract was made up of Hardwicke Ltd, of which Mr Mark Kavanagh is managing director, McInerney Properties, of which Mr Dan McInerney was chairman, and British Land.

The board members at the time of the decision were: Mr Frank Benson (executive chairman); Mr Ciaran Corrigan; Mr Doyle; Mr Patrick Herlihy; Mr Dermot O'Rourke; Mr Buckley; Mr Fox; and Mr Padraig O hUiginn.

Mr Buckley, Mr Fox and Mr O hUiginn were appointed to the board by Mr Haughey's government in August 1987. The other members had been appointed a year earlier by the coalition government led by Dr Garret FitzGerald.

The Moriarty Tribunal has heard that Mr Haughey benefited by about £300,000 from loan facilities from Guinness & Mahon bank in the 1980s which were settled by Mr Doyle and his estate.

In 1987 Mr Fox was the contact point for the late Mr Des Traynor who was requesting money for Mr Haughey from Mr Ben Dunne. Some £2 million was paid over by Mr Dunne in the period 1987 to 1992.

Mr Desmond has given evidence to the tribunal about payments totalling £125,000 sterling which he made to Mr Haughey in 1994 and 1996. He also paid £75,500 towards the refurbishment of the Haughey family yacht in 1990.

Mr Kavanagh is expected to appear before the tribunal next week to give evidence about £100,000 he apparently gave Mr Haughey in 1989. It is understood he gave Mr Haughey a cheque made out to Fianna Fail for £25,000, and three bank drafts, each for £25,000, made out to bearer. The cheque was lodged to the Fianna Fail party account but what happened to the rest of the money is not yet clear.

Mr McInerney's name featured on a list produced for the tribunal recently by Mr Paul Kavanagh, a Fianna Fail fund-raiser during Mr Haughey's time as party leader. The list was of party supporters who Mr Kavanagh thought might be willing to make contributions towards a fund he was establishing in 1989 to pay for medical treatment for the late Mr Brian Lenihan. It is not known what contribution, if any, Mr McInerney made.

Another person who has featured in the tribunal's hearings, Dr Edmund Farrell, attempted to get involved in a consortium bidding for the Dublin Docks contract but was not successful. Dr Farrell, formerly the chief executive of the Irish Permanent Building Society, has given evidence of payments totalling £140,000 which he made in 1986 and 1991. The cheques were lodged to the Fianna Fail party leader's account and the money used by Mr Haughey personally. Dr Farrell has told the tribunal he gave the IPBS money as a donation to Fianna Fail.

Mr Desmond is widely credited with having convinced Mr Haughey to back the development of an Irish Financial Services Centre (IFSC). Mr Haughey publicly backed the idea during the 1987 general election campaign. Following the IFSC's establishment Mr Desmond, after a dispute with the Hardwick/McInerney/British Land consortium, bought the south block at the centre, under an option agreement which he is believed to have had.

Eight separate bids were made for the 1987 contract. The other consortiums included: Trafalgar House/Sisk/Duke House/ Fearghas Quinn; Taylor Woodrow; Green Property Group; Monarch Properties; O'Connell Construction, Boston; and Tarmac/ICC.