Don Lydon
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Donal John Lydon (born August 7, 1938 in Dublin, is a psychologist and an Irish politician. He is a Fianna Fáil member of Seanad Éireann (1987 - ), elected on the Labour Panel.
Lydon was educated at St. Eunan's College, Letterkenny, County Donegal, University College Galway, University College Dublin and the Trinity College.
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[edit] Professional career
Senator Lydon received his secondary education at St. Eunan’s College, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal and following his Matriculation attended, in turn, University College, Galway; University College, Dublin; and Trinity College, Dublin.
His Bachelors Degree was in Sociology and English and his postgraduate work was in the area of Education and Psychology. His professional postnomials are as follows: B.A., H.D.Ed., D.Psych., A.F.B.Ps.S., A.F.Ps.S.I., Reg. Psychol., C.T.G., M.I.I.T.D.
He has held various positions throughout his career including the position of Counsellor, Dublin Vocational Educational Committee (1973-1974), Visiting Psychologist, Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children, Dublin (1974-1978), Clinical Psychologist, Cluain Mhuire Family Centre, Blackrock, Co. Dublin (1974-1978), Expert Witness to Marriage Tribunal, Dublin Diocese (1974-1984), Assessor/Interviewer, Religious Psychology Group, Thornfield Laboratory, University College, Dublin (1973-1978), Lecturer in Behavioural Science, Faculty of Nursing, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (1976-1980), Lecturer in Behavioural Modification, Department Social Science, University College, Dublin (1979-1980), Senior Tutor, Department of Psychology, University College, Dublin (1979-2003), Special Lecturer, Diploma in Psychological Medicine, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (1983-1987), Head of Department of Psychology, St. John of God Hospital, Stillorgan, Co. Dublin (1979 – 2003), Co-ordinator of Programme Development, St. John of God Hospital, Stillorgan, Co. Dublin (1986-2003).
In addition Senator Lydon has worked as a Consultant Psychologist with the Order of Friar Servants of Mary (Servites), the Christian Brothers, Dublin, the Union of the Sisters of Mercy (Diocese of Cork and Ross), the Congregation des Soeurs du Bon-Secours de Paris and with other religious organisations including the Divine Word Missionaries, Pallotine Fathers, Marist Fathers, Alexian Brothers, Marist Sisters, Holy Faith, White Fathers, Legionaries of Christ, etc., etc. He was for a number of years Director of Connsbrook Productions Limited and also of Corona Holidays Limited in Dublin. He has published a number of papers in professional journals mostly in the area of Alcoholism or Psychopathology in Adolescents. He was the first Psychologist in Ireland to be awarded a Council of Europe Medical Fellowship in 1977 in order to go abroad to study “Residential Treatment of Disturbed Adolescents”. Apart from his current membership of the Psychological Society of Ireland he has at various times held membership of the following professional bodies:
British Psychological Society; Institute of Guidance Counsellors; Association of Family Therapy; Association for Child Psychology and Psychiatry; Association for the Psychiatric Study of Adolescence; Department of Health Consultative Group on Severely Disturbed Adolescents; British Association for Behavioural Psychotherapy; Irish Institute for Training and Development; Irish Rorschach Forum. In his political life he has been a member of a Local Authority since 1985. He was first elected to Seanad Éireann (Irish Senate) in 1987 and has been elected at all subsequent elections. He has at various times been the Senior Senate Spokesman on Justice, Senior Senate Spokesman on the Department of the Taoiseach (P.M.) and European Affairs, Senior Senate Spokesman on European Affairs, and currently holds the position of Spokesman on Foreign Affairs with Special Responsibility for Overseas Development Assistance and Human Rights.
He is a Knight of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Rhodes and of Malta and in 1987 was awarded the Order of Malta Cross of Merit, pro merito milenstii and in the same year the Bronze Medal of the Irish Association of the Order of Malta. He is a Knight Grand Cross of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem and has been a member of the Council of the Irish Lieutenancy of the Order since 1993. He is a Knight Commander with Star of the Pontifical Equestrian Order of Pope St. Gregory the Great and is President of the Association of Papal Orders in Ireland. He is a Knight Commander with Star of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George and a Knight Commander of the Royal Order of Francis I and served as Vice Delegate and Chancellor of the British and Irish Delegation of the two dynastic orders. He is a Knight commander of the Order of Merit (Republic of Poland), Knight of the Order of St. Maurice and Lazarus and a Grand Officer of the Order of the Holy Cross of Jerusalem.
[edit] Political career
In his political life he has been a member of a Local Authority since 1985. He was first elected to Seanad Éireann (Irish Senate) in 1987 and has been elected at all subsequent elections. He has at various times been the Senior Senate Spokesman on Justice, Senior Senate Spokesman on the Department of the Taoiseach (P.M.) and European Affairs, Senior Senate Spokesman on European Affairs, and currently holds the position of Spokesman on Foreign Affairs with Special Responsibility for Overseas Development Assistance and Human Rights. He has served as a member of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Women’s Rights, the Joint Services Committee, the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Social, Community & Family Affairs and is currently a member of the Joint Parliamentary European Affairs Committee.
[edit] Donations Disclosed to Standards Commission
Teachta Dálas, Senators and MEPs were required to furnish to the Standards Commission their Donations Statements and accompanying documentation each year. Any donations with a value exceeding €634.87 received during the year must be disclosed. The maximum value of donations which can be accepted from the same donor in the same calendar year is €2,539.48. Donations received from the same donor must be aggregated and regarded as a single donation for the purposes of the disclosure to the Standards Commission and maximum acceptance limits. TDs, Senators and MEPs are prohibited from accepting anonymous donations exceeding €126.97 or foreign donations of any value.
Senator Lydon dislosed one donation over £500 to the Commisison between 1997 and 2005. This was in respect of a cheque for £1,000 received in 1999 from Castlemarket Holdings Limited.
[edit] The Mahon Tribunal
The Mahon Tribunal, previously know as The Flood Tribunal is a Tribunal of Inquiry into Certain Planning Matters and Payments. It was established by the Irish Government in November 1997. This Inquiry has uncovered evidence of politicians and former politicians accepting substantial donations from property developers which coincided with planning decisions that favoured the interests' of donors.
Senator Lydon has been examined in the course of several modules of inquiry.
Lydon proposed the November 11, 1993 motion to Dublin County Council that enabled the development proposed by Monarch Properties at Cherrywood, County Dublin and he was regarded as the main access to Fianna Fáil support for Monarch proposals. The motion was passed by 44 - 27 votes. A second motion favouring Monarch by signed by Lydon on October 10, 1994. Lydon admitted that he was the most prominent Fianna Fáil supporter of Monarch proposals at the Council.
[edit] 'Lead Councillor'
- Bill O'Herlihy, a public relations consultant retained by Monarch Proprties in 1991, told the Tribunal on June 7, 2006 that he was told that members of Dublin County Council were alleged to pocket £50,000 per year in return for favourable planning decisions. This 'hearsay evidence' indicated that transaction process involved a property developer developing a bilateral relationship with a lead councillor. The lead councillor would then determine with colleagues what exactly was required to secure a particular vote on a planning or rezoning matter. The lead councillor cited by O'Herlihy in respect of Monarch's interests was Lydon
- Lydon, in evidence, on July 19, 2006 disputed O'Herlihy's allegation but he did admit that Monarch Properties used to take large numbers of councillors to restaurants "all over the place" when planning decisions in respect of Cherrywood were pending and that he proposed a Monarch related motion on May 27, 1992.
- Lydon told the Tribunal on July 19, 2006 that the allegations made against him had damaged his chances of getting elected for a sixth term to the Seanad[1].
- The Tribunal has been requested to rule on the admissibility of O'Herlihy's hearsay evidence which it did on July 27 noting that Lydon had been afforded an opportunity to challenging such evidence, which he has already done.[2].
[edit] Evidence to Fianna Fáil Inquiry
- Lydon admitted to the Tribunal that evidence he presented to a Fianna Fáil internal inquiry in 2000 into payments received was "wrong" He told that inquiry that he received payments of £400 to £500 from Monarch Properties at the time of the 1991 and 1999 local elections as well as a contribution of £1,000 towards his 1993 Seanad election campaign. He told The Mahon Tribunal that he had in fact received £600 1991; £2,500 in 1992/92 and £450 in 1999 from this source. He also received £1,000 from Monarch lobbyist Frank Dunlop in 1992/93 and £250 in 1999.
- Lydon failed to disclose to the Inquiry, until his attention was drawn to this on May 1, 2003, that he received £5,000 from a developer in a pub in Goatstown in 1992 because the Inquiry "never asked him about these things". Lydon subsequently proposed a rezoning motion in respect of lands in County Dublin owned by this donor. He also failed to disclose this money to the internal Fianna Fáil inquiry, details of which were to be forwarded to the Tribunal, nor did he seek to correct his evidence subsequently and he did not consider that his failure to do so adversely impacted his reputation.
[edit] Election Contests, One Fund Raising Event
- Lydon only held one fund-raising event in respect of the 7 elections he contested. This took place in 1991 at The Goat Grill from which a couple of hundred pounds were raised.. He explains "I was very lucky, people gave me a lot of money" and that he would take money from anybody "except gangsters" if it helped him retain his elected positions. He was never bothered about the perception associated with accepting money and the consequential impact of his vote on planning and rezoning decisions.[citation needed]
[edit] Lobbyists Role : 'Keep Councillors Happy'
- Senator Lydon confirmed in response to the Tribunal that he received no donations, benefits, gifts or assistance from, or o behalf of developers, connected to decisions relating to Quarryvale, west Dublin. He viewed the function of lobbyists as one of keeping councillor happy - that is buy them drinks, meals and send them money at election time.[citation needed]
- Following the establishment of the Tribunal, Frank Dunlop stated in sworn evidence that he met Lydon in the car park of St John of Gods Hospital and that the Tribunal were taping telephones and that he, Dunlop, should be careful about what he said on the telephone about people, particularly politicians. This was absolutely rejected by Lydon as being totally false when he gave evidence to the Tribunal.
[edit] Carrickmines Rezoning
- Dunlop told the Tribunal in May 2003 that Lydon asked Dunlop for a £5,000 bribe to rezone 108 acres at Jackson Way, Carrickmines, County Dublin for industrial use but that he accepted £3,000 three days after he, Lydon, signed the Council motion in 1992. These allegations were rejected totally by Lydon when he gave evidence on the basis that the two meetings mentioned by Dunlop did not take place. This evidence was supported by sworn evidence given by independent third parties confirming that Dunlop's allegations were false.
