Tom Gilmartin

Tom Gilmartin (11 March 1935 – 22 November 2013) was an Irish businessman, whistleblower

Biography Originally from County Sligo, Gilmartin grew up on a small farm at Lislary, near Grange. He left Ireland for England in 1957 and developed a mechanical engineering business in Luton serving local car makers such as Vauxhall Motors. Often wrongly referred to as a builder, Gilmartin had never been involved in building, but had a great talent for putting together development schemes in the United Kingdom and introducing institutional investment to get them off the ground.

Property development and corruption Motivated by concern that beggars in the UK were Irish like himself, he returned to Ireland in the late 1980s to create local jobs. In Ireland he encountered corruption from politicians while attempting to create 20,000 jobs through the development of two shopping areas in the Bachelors Walk and Quarryvale areas of Dublin, the latter of which subsequently became the Liffey Valley Shopping Centre, a development which bears no relation to the multi-purpose retail, technology, and social development envisaged by Gilmartin. Politicians and the public relations industry attempted to discredit him when he tried to speak out. Comparing the Fianna Fáil political party to the Mafia, Gilmartin found himself under threat, "You could end up in the [River] Liffey for that statement." ), thus proving Gilmartin correct.

After being forced by AIB Bank to cede control of 60% of his development company to them and Cork developer Owen O'Callaghan, Gilmartin's experience became even worse. Gilmartin suspected O'Callaghan's associate, Frank Dunlop, as being a conduit for payments to politicians, the latter paid to stall the rezoning of the lands Gilmartin had assembled until he had handed over control. Contemporaneous bank memorandums and multiple witnesses attested to Gilmartin's complaints of corruption, particularly in relation to large round-figure, invoiceless and VAT-free payments to a company called Shefran Ltd., payments to which Gilmartin repeatedly queried and received no answers (it later becoming apparent that it was merely a cover for payments to Dunlop to disperse to politicians). The Tribunal report found that AIB were fully aware of, and facilitated, these payments, yet were complicit in keeping Gilmartin in the dark. Gilmartin's testimony included allegations that the then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern had taken money from Cork developer Owen O'Callaghan (leading to Ahern's appearance before the Tribunal, and subsequent resignation) and that Flynn had tried to have Gilmartin give an IR£50,000 cheque to the Fianna Fáil political party to stop the activities of corrupt officials and politicians trying to thwart Gilmartin after he refused to pay them. Gilmartin had already gone to the Gardái, who were found to have told him to 'F*** off back to England', and later admitted not even questioning those named by Gilmartin because they were politicians. He had also complained to government ministers and Dublin Corporation officials, but had received little help, except requests for donations to the governing party, Fianna Fáil, which Gilmartin had repeatedly refused until he realised that he was set to lose everything. Thus, under much pressure, he relented, and gave a cheque to Flynn, then the Fianna Fáil Treasurer, for the party. The donation, which was meant for Fianna Fáil, was later found not to have been passed on to the party by Flynn.

Gilmartin moved to County Cork, where he died as a result of heart failure in November 2013. Hundreds turned out in Grange, County Sligo, and at Urris, County Donegal, to pay their respects.