Unknown to Kevin Phelan, the man who came to outline the plan, the meeting was recorded by the late Ken Richardson, one of those he travelled to meet. <\/p>\n
The Irish Times first reported in 2003 that this meeting took place and was recorded. <\/p>\n
Now, more than two decades on, this newspaper can publish the video of the meeting and, for the first time, reveal in more detail what was said. <\/p>\n
In the video, Phelan is on the left, facing Richardson, who is nearest the camera, and his associate, Mark Weaver.<\/p>\n
Kevin Phelan – Clip 01 <\/p>\n
Details of what was discussed at the meeting has taken on new relevance after Lowry acted as kingmaker for the Government established in the wake of the 2024 general election<\/a>.<\/p>\n Sinn F\u00e9in<\/a> TD Pearse Doherty<\/a> criticised the Independent TD\u2019s key role in bringing together other Independents to support the Fianna F\u00e1il<\/a>–Fine Gael<\/a> Coalition and made new claims about a land deal that was central to what was discussed at the York meeting. <\/p>\n At the time of the meeting, the tribunal in Dublin Castle was investigating financial links between Lowry, a former minister for communications, and O\u2019Brien, whose Esat consortium won the 1995 mobile phone licence competition when Lowry was in office.<\/p>\n A number of English deals formed part of the tribunal\u2019s inquiries. The deals took place in the late 1990s, after Lowry had resigned from government. All involved Phelan, a land agent from Omagh, Co Tyrone.<\/p>\n At the York meeting, Phelan said he had information that could be used to put \u201cpressure\u201d on O\u2019Brien and Lowry, and compel them to sell property in England worth millions of pounds at a discounted rate.<\/p>\n Richardson was the former owner of Doncaster Rovers Football Club Ltd (DRFC), which he sold in 1998 in a deal organised through Phelan. The company owned the lease on the Doncaster club\u2019s stadium.<\/p>\n Richardson had two criminal convictions \u2013 one from the 1980s, a famous race-fixing fraud involving a horse called Flockton Grey, and another, in 1999, for hiring someone in 1995 to burn down the main stand at the Doncaster Rovers stadium, as part of an intended property development scam.<\/p>\n The third person at the York meeting, Richardson\u2019s assistant, Weaver, gave a copy of the secret recording to The Irish Times last year, but publication was not possible until now because Phelan was before the courts in England in respect of an unrelated fraud. He has now been jailed.<\/p>\n In the late 1990s, Phelan acted in land deals in Mansfield, Cheadle and Doncaster that were investigated by the tribunal. <\/p>\n The Cheadle and Mansfield lands cost \u00a3665,000 sterling between them, while Doncaster, a more complex transaction, cost \u00a34.3 million. Some \u00a3700,000 from the Doncaster sale proceeds was placed in a \u201cretention fund\u201d, the distribution of which would depend on certain matters.<\/p>\n The Doncaster plan involved the purchase of DRFC Ltd from Richardson, moving the team to a new stadium and developing the site of the former grounds, thereby generating a substantial profit. <\/p>\n Phelan told the York meeting he had put a lot of work into this project, which accounted for most of the \u00a3700,000 he claimed he was owed for his work on the English land deals.<\/p>\n Back in Dublin, the tribunal had been told the Cheadle and Mansfield deals were Lowry transactions and had nothing to do with O\u2019Brien. Doncaster, it was told, was an O\u2019Brien transaction and had nothing to do with Lowry.<\/p>\n The recorded meeting heard details that were different from the accounts given to the tribunal.<\/p>\n Phelan claimed at the meeting in York that all three deals involved Lowry and were funded by O\u2019Brien \u2013 a point strongly disputed by Lowry and O\u2019Brien at the tribunal.<\/p>\n \u201cMichael,\u201d Phelan said, referring to Lowry, \u201che has a business and all that, but he is not the funder.\u201d <\/p>\n Phelan told Richardson and Weaver he had been asked to source property deals that would not generate an immediate return.<\/p>\n \u201cI was dealing with this particular individual in Ireland and my instructions from him were to get two or three deals that would come to fruition in three or five years,\u201d he said, referring to Lowry.<\/p>\n \u201cHe had a tax problem. He didn\u2019t want to earn the money now. He wanted to earn the money when he had his tax sorted out. He wanted long-term projects.\u201d<\/p>\n Phelan said he knew the money for the land deals didn\u2019t belong to the man (Lowry) he was dealing with.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I didn\u2019t question it,\u201d he said. \u201cI knew it wasn\u2019t illegal money. It was legal money but I knew it wasn\u2019t his.\u201d<\/p>\n When Weaver said, \u201cYou knew it wasn\u2019t drug money\u201d, Phelan agreed. <\/p>\n His client had been a \u201cminister in government\u201d and has recently resigned, Phelan said. He had \u201cgood contacts\u201d and could be useful.<\/p>\n The tribunal initially believed Lowry had no link to the Doncaster deal, but it changed its mind after the publication in January 2003 of a report in The Irish Times linking the politician to the deal<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n When the tribunal discovered links between Lowry and O\u2019Brien, Phelan told the other two men in the meeting, the \u201cshit hit the fan big time\u201d over the English land deals. <\/p>\n As a consequence of this, an accountant and associate of O\u2019Brien\u2019s called Aidan Phelan (no relation to Kevin Phelan) became involved.<\/p>\n Kevin Phelan told the men at the York meeting: \u201cMy man was further distanced by the funder, who said, \u2018Look, f**k off, you can\u2019t be seen\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Phelan said all his dealings with Lowry had been verbal. <\/p>\n \u201cThat guy Michael Lowry is a trustworthy guy,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve never had a problem with him . . . I still deal with Michael and I am still friendly with him. But there is an invidious position here to be sorted out.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMicheal Lowry is a decent bloke,\u201d Richardson said. He knew Lowry from horse-racing circles, he added.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s (Lowry) a friend of mine,\u201d Phelan said. \u201cBut equally, I\u2019m trying to get my money.\u201d<\/p>\n During the meeting, Phelan referred to O\u2019Brien as \u201cthe big man\u201d and the funder.<\/p>\n Kevin Phelan – Clip 02 <\/p>\n \u201cThe big man is up here; he doesn\u2019t know what\u2019s going on. He knows a bit . . . Michael [Lowry] knows a good bit of what is going on. He wants to keep in with the big man,\u201d said Phelan.<\/p>\n Phelan said the tribunal had been given misleading information about the English land deals and that he, Phelan, could prove this.<\/p>\n Because he lived outside the jurisdiction, Phelan could not be forced to give evidence to the tribunal.<\/p>\n At the York meeting, Phelan said he had told the tribunal that if they wanted him to co-operate, he would first have to see what it was being told. In response, the tribunal had sent him copies of documents it had been given about the English land deals. <\/p>\n Phelan had his own copies of the same documents and when he compared the two sets, he said, he discovered that the ones given to the tribunal had been doctored. <\/p>\n The altered documents were from the files of an English solicitor, Christopher Vaughan, who had acted for Phelan in the land deals.<\/p>\n \u201cI couldn\u2019t believe it. All changed. Really serious,\u201d he told the men in the York meeting.<\/p>\n Vaughan told the tribunal that he had at times handed over control of his files to others. The tribunal said it found his evidence \u201cunsatisfactory\u201d.<\/p>\n Kevin Phelan – Clip 03 <\/p>\n People could go to jail if what he knew came out, Phelan said at the York meeting. He then suggested that Richardson give his approval for the \u201cstrategy\u201d he was proposing.<\/p>\n [\u00a0Who is Kevin Phelan?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n They could create \u201cpressure\u201d on Lowry and O\u2019Brien, using the confidential information Phelan had, which Lowry and O\u2019Brien would not want the tribunal to get its hands on, Phelan said.<\/p>\n Then, a few months later, they could get someone to front for them and make an offer to take the English properties off Lowry and O\u2019Brien\u2019s hands, at a discounted rate.<\/p>\n As part of the Doncaster sale, Richardson was claiming he was entitled to the money in the retention fund.<\/p>\n \u201cWe could set up a strategy that we don\u2019t really muddy anybody\u2019s position and we get the right answers,\u201d Phelan said.<\/p>\n \u201cYou want your money and we want ours,\u201d said Richardson.<\/p>\n If they were to reach an agreement, Phelan said, he would like to finalise it \u201cman to man\u201d, without Weaver in the room. \u201cThen it would be your word against mine.\u201d <\/p>\n Richardson agreed this was a good idea.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Yorkshire phrase,\u201d Richardson said, \u201cis, if only two of us knows, and it gets out, if it isn\u2019t me, it must be thee. And if it isn\u2019t thee, it must be me.\u201d<\/p>\n Phelan said they could seek to buy the Doncaster site alone, or the Doncaster, Cheadle and Mansfield sites, all wrapped together. <\/p>\n \u201cI could say, I\u2019m offering you a deal, lads, to get rid of all these problems,\u201d Phelan said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we agree something today, and we shake hands on it. Me and him (Weaver) will go off and build up the pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n At one stage, when Richardson had left the room, Weaver suggested that Phelan give Richardson some of the letters Phelan had. <\/p>\n This would encourage Richardson to trust him, Weaver said. Phelan said he did not at that stage want to hand over a letter that linked Lowry to the Doncaster deal, which the tribunal had been told had nothing to do with the Tipperary businessman and politician.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want to land Michael in the sh**e, to be fair,\u201d Phelan said. \u201cIf we go that far, I\u2019m shafting him. He\u2019s on my side like.\u201d<\/p>\n Kevin Phelan – Clip 04 <\/p>\n When Richardson returned, the men viewed documents and discussed actions they could take, including taking legal action. <\/p>\n Phelan gave Weaver Irish newspaper articles about the tribunal and suggested he might want to contact some of the journalists involved.<\/p>\n Phelan said he had not told Lowry everything about what was going on. <\/p>\n \u201cThe last thing I want him to think is that I am blackmailing him,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The York meeting lasted more than three hours.<\/p>\n \u201cThe bottom line is this,\u201d Phelan said, near the end, \u201cI\u2019ll help you. You\u2019ll help me, and we will get our just rewards . . . These guys are acting the b***ocks.\u201d<\/p>\n In the months after the York meeting, substantial payments were made by O\u2019Brien and Lowry to Phelan that the tribunal eventually decided were linked to Phelan\u2019s knowledge that the tribunal was being misled.<\/p>\n The plan discussed at the meeting \u2013 to force the sale of the English properties at a knock-down price to a nominee acting for Phelan and Richardson \u2013 never materialised.<\/p>\n The tribunal initially believed Lowry had no link to the Doncaster deal, but it changed its mind after the publication in January 2003 of a report in The Irish Times linking the politician to the deal.<\/p>\n The report was based on a letter written by Vaughan to Lowry in September 1998 \u2013 the letter Phelan referred to at the York meeting that linked the Tipperary politician to the Doncaster deal.<\/p>\n The letter was shown to The Irish Times in January 2003 but was not then in the possession of the tribunal. <\/p>\n This was the letter Phelan was loath to hand over to Richardson at the meeting because of the consequences it would have for Lowry. <\/p>\n In the 1998 letter, Vaughan referred to a meeting he had had with Lowry two days earlier in England. He said he had not, until then, appreciated Lowry\u2019s \u201ctotal involvement\u201d in the Doncaster deal.<\/p>\n The 2003 report in The Irish Times further disclosed that the Vaughan letter mentioning Lowry had been produced in the context of mediation talks in London in 2002.<\/p>\n The talks were linked to legal action taken by Richardson over the retention fund and money he was claiming he was owed from the Doncaster deal. <\/p>\n The falsification of the Vaughan files happened at or after a meeting in Dublin in March 2001 and was implemented with the full knowledge of Aidan Phelan, Lowry, Vaughan and Kevin Phelan, the tribunal concluded<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Production of the letter led to an allegation of blackmail by O\u2019Brien\u2019s side to the London police. The allegation was investigated, but no charges were ever brought.<\/p>\n The mediation talks resulted in the payment of a substantial six-figure sum to Richardson.<\/p>\n The 2003 Irish Times report said the settlement agreed in London did not include any payment arising from an alleged blackmail attempt and this was later confirmed by O\u2019Brien at the tribunal. It is not being suggested that any blackmail payment was made.<\/p>\n The tribunal opened a public inquiry into the Doncaster deal in September 2004, prompted by The Irish Times report, and it continued intermittently over the following years. <\/p>\n Richardson, Phelan and Weaver did not give evidence, and the tribunal could not force them to do so as they lived outside the jurisdiction. <\/p>\n In the tribunal\u2019s final report in 2011, the tribunal decided that O\u2019Brien had provided financial support to Lowry for the Mansfield and Cheadle deals, and that this was linked to Lowry\u2019s interference in the mobile phone licence competition that benefited O\u2019Brien.<\/p>\n This was contrary to the evidence given to the tribunal by both O\u2019Brien and Lowry.<\/p>\n On the Doncaster transaction, the tribunal decided Lowry did at one stage have an involvement in the deal, which it was intended would confer a financial advantage to him, but that this then changed.<\/p>\n The tribunal said it was unable to determine the precise nature of Lowry\u2019s involvement in the Doncaster deal. <\/p>\n Both Lowry and O\u2019Brien have strongly disputed the tribunal\u2019s findings.<\/p>\n The falsification of the Vaughan files happened at or after a meeting in Dublin in March 2001 and was implemented with the full knowledge of Aidan Phelan, Lowry, Vaughan and Kevin Phelan, the tribunal concluded.<\/p>\n During the tribunal\u2019s Doncaster hearings it emerged that both Lowry and O\u2019Brien had given Kevin Phelan money against the backdrop of the tribunal\u2019s inquiries.<\/p>\n\n
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![\"Kevin](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/FMJD6WPHPNDEVINFRFV7J7RD34.jpg\")
Kevin Phelan outside Leeds Court. He was jailed for seven years on May 28th for his involvement in a fraudulent pension liberation scheme. <\/p>\n