Ben Dunne

Ben Dunne (born March 3 1949) is an Irish entrepreneur and former director of his family firm, Dunnes Stores, one of the largest chains of department stores in Ireland.In 1981, he was kidnapped by the IRA and held for seven days. He was released unharmed.

In 1992, he was arrested for cocaine possession and soliciting while on a golfing holiday in Florida, USA. [cite news | url = http://www.unison.ie/business/ansbacher/how_it_began/stories.php?ca=250&si=788295 | title = How the truth emerged after one hellish night in the life of Ben Dunne | publisher = Irish Independent|date = 2002-07-07 ]

He was again embroiled in scandal in the mid-1990s when it was revealed he had given large amounts of money to a number of Irish politicians, mainly from the Fianna Fáil party including the then Taoiseach, Charlie Haughey. He also gave money to Michael Lowry of Fine Gael. Mr Justice Brian McCracken sole member of The McCracken Tribunal which was established by the Irish Government in 1997 found that Dunne "knowingly assisted" Lowry evade tax [ cite web | url = http://www.moriarty-tribunal.ie/asp/displayall.asp?ObjectID=310&Mode=0&RecordID=1 | title = Moriarty Tribunal Terms of Reference | accessdate = 2006-08-28 ] .

He now owns a chain of low price fitness centres, Westpoint, Carlisle and Northwood, all based in Dublin, which he personally promotes on radio, using recent Irish advertising legislation which lets you make direct comparisons to named competitors.

In April 2005 he paid £3,000,000 for a 21 acre site in Motspur Park, New Malden (South London), former home of BBC Football Club and other BBC sports facilities, and intends to apply for planning permission to build a leisure and fitness centre. However, he did not do so. Instead, in February 2008, his company Barkisland Developments Limited submitted a planning application to the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames Council for change of use of the sports ground to a cemetery [ cite web | url = http://www.surreycomet.co.uk/news/localnews/display.var.2165525.0.anger_at_cemetery_plans.php | title = Anger at cemetery plans | accessdate = 2008-08-12 ] .

The application to change the former BBC Sports Ground into a cemetery was withdrawn on 3rd October 2008. It had become clear that planning permission was likely to be refused. Objections had been lodged by many local residents, sports clubs, Sport England and the Mayor of London. [ cite web | url =http://maps.kingston.gov.uk/isis_main/planning/planning_summary.aspx?strWeekListType=SRCH&strCaseNo=08/14168&strLimit=50 | title = Application withdrawn | accessdate = 2008-10-07 ] .

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