Dublin Report No sport in squaring the Gold Circle of Haughey cronies

By John Kelly

Two tribunals are running in Dublin, both set up by the Dail, both seemingly dealing with slightly different matters. The Flood Tribunal is concerned mainly with the allegations of one man, James Gogarty, concerning planning permissions granted to some politicians, most notably the former minister for justice, Ray Burke, who represented North County Dublin. The other deals with the possibility that some politicians, especially Michael Lowry and Charlie Haughey, may have granted favors for cash paid to them.

Both tribunals, especially the second, have a long journey to go before all of the barristers, the solicitors, the note takers, the witnesses and, of course, the long suffering press, can take their leave of Dublin Castle.

Hundreds of tourists who daily visit the beautifully appointed and much renovated State Apartments are bemused by the perpetual throng of cameramen, TV and still, who descend in a flock on all who have the slightest connections with either tribunal.

So much for the bread and circuses. A lot of taxpayer’s money could have been saved — and might still be saved — if the two were combined. Both, after all, are concerned with much the same thing.

It is even possible that the man who is central to one, Haughey, may also be more than slightly implicated in the other.

The story goes back to a once famed racecourse in North County Dublin, directly opposite Portmarnock Golf Club, famed throughout the international golfing world.

The racecourse was Baldoyle, a favorite venue for Dubliners, who could get there easily by bus or by train. In the 1960s, Baldoyle, which was never a great racing track was losing so much money that it had to close down.

It was a heady enough time to be alive almost anywhere, but the 1960s in Ireland marked a watershed. Fueled mainly by the changes initiated by Sean Lemass, the Irish economy and society was changing to an enormous extent. There was an air of optimism, a can-do attitude. A lot of leading politicians not only pushed this urge, they joined in it. Haughey was one of them.

Baldoyle’s closing left a large tract of potentially prime development land in north Dublin, just as the Irish economy was moving into a rare golden patch. The buyer was John Byrne, coincidentally a friend of Haughey who had just bought a prime farm in Kinsealy, not far away on the city side of Malahide.

While Kinsealy was landlocked, with limited means of sewage disposal, the land at Baldoyle had access to the sea — and to gain planning permission for housing, Byrne proposed to build a gigantic pipe. Naturally, the county council turned him down.

But the wealthy property developer seemed to be on a winner when Haughey, after struggling back from his political limbo following the arms trial in 1970, became taoiseach.

Haughey’s trusty lieutenant and fellow North County Dubliner, Burke, immediately set about the job of placing suitably docile Fianna Fail stalwarts on the planning appeals board, which was capable of overturning decisions made by the council.

Everything seemed to be in readiness. Byrne would get his pipe, Baldoyle its housing scheme. The property developer would make a handsome profit and perhaps, just perhaps, the pipe would also enable the cash-strapped Haughey to obtain planning permission on a nice slice of his land, which was then zoned for agricultural use.

There was no planning permission for housing, either, because the Kinsealy acreage had no sewage-disposal facility.

Because Fianna Fail lost the 1982 snap election called by Haughey, Endcamp, as the Baldoyle site is called, is still bereft of any housing. But it is coming — you can be sure of it. And the land in fast-growing north Dublin is worth millions.

Haughey was not just a friend of Byrne. There were many others in that golden circle. The man who spun the roulette wheel for all of them was the late Des Traynor, an accountant trained by Haughey who helped to set up the firm known as Haughey-Boland & Associates.

Traynor was also a close friend and business colleague of Byrne. In fact, he was a director of Carisle Trust, and Dublin City Estates, both owned by Byrne. In addition, he was deputy chairman of Guinness-Mahon Bank, the same bank that acted for both of the Byrne companies.

Fast forward on the basis of much of the evidence given to the Moriarty Tribunal — and the Flood Tribunal as well, although Haughey may appear to have no valid part in that particular pot boiler.

Carlisle Trust was the majority share-holder in Endcamp, the company that owned the Baldoyle site.

In turn, another company owned by the late Traynor acted in a financial capacity for all of the three Byrne companies. But it was also secretary to Haughey’s private company, Larchfield Securities, the one that officially owned his land at Kinsealy.

One of the major voting shareholders in another company linked to Endcamp, was none other than the star of the Flood Tribunal, James Gogarty, the gregarious witness who had the country in an uproar as the result of his venomous attacks on highly paid barristers.

Small wonder, then, as it emerged in evidence at the Moriarty Tribunal, Haughey could vaguely hint to harassed bank creditors that there was a parcel of land in Baldoyle that could help him to pay his debts in a significant manner.

Could it have been Endcamp — perish the thought.

Surely, that would be just another nasty rumor?

But that is the evidence that has emerged. Perhaps Haughey can throw light on rumors that have circled around the heads of bemused media figures for many years.

Many suspected that there was a lot more to Endcamp than met the eye. Many even guessed that there just had to be a connection to the Haughey Golden Circle.

That’s it is in a nutshell — the connections linking Carlisle Trust, Byrne, Traynor, Haughey, Burke and Gogarty.

When they all prate that "it’s a great little country," they are not joking.

You can be quite sure that we are all going to learn a lot more startling facts before the last legal folder is finally closed at both tribunals.

Ireland and Irish politics can hardly ever be allowed to be the same again.