[3] A group styling itself the Campaign for Honesty in Politics (CHIP), led by Smith, published a leaflet in 1991 headed 'politicians on the fiddle: vote them out’ detailing what it claimed was bad or improper practice by councillors in the County Council.
It was clear that if Monarch got the rezoning a lot of land in the area would be developed as the Shanganagh sewer had recently been installed and the M50 and former Harcourt St railway skirted the site.
[3] Smith, who claimed that Phil Monahan, boss of Monarch had predicted the change and boasted to him that he was paying councillors,[7] says he was enraged and had the idea of offering a reward for planning corruption.
[8] As a result of information that came from James Gogarty, a disgruntled former employee of Joseph Murphy Structural Engineers, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ray Burke resigned and was subsequently jailed for tax offences.
[11][12] He was the lead author for An Taisce on reports about Temple Bar, the Quays, Dublin pubs,[13] listed buildings, Grafton St, High-Rise and One-Off Housing.
He signed up to 2000 letters of observation on controversial applications in that time, including unsuccessful appeals of peat-burning power stations, an objection to the demolition of the childhood home of James Joyce[14] and a successful appeal of a holiday home for President Mary McAleese and her husband, Martin, in Roscommon [3][15] He successfully campaigned to save the birthplace of Edward Carson, father of Irish Unionism, on Harcourt St in Dublin City Centre saved from demolition.
Lancefort also unsuccessfully appealed disgraced former Minister Michael Lowry's application for retention permission for a house at Holy Cross, Co Tipperary, which had been paid for by supermarket mogul, Ben Dunne.
Around this time Ian Lumley found Progressive Democrat financial records in a skip outside the party's headquarters and Smith forwarded them to the Sunday Business Post.
[20] The current affairs magazine carries stories on politics, media, culture, international and the environment, is now published monthly with an ideology that focuses on equality of outcome, sustainability and transparency.
[21] In 2010 it received legal correspondence from then Lord Mayor of Dublin, Oisin Quinn, over allegations he should not have voted on high-rise issues in the city as he had a stake in property that might benefit from changes.
[23] In 2014 Village uniquely published the redacted Ansbacher dossier, alleging a long-standing cover-up of ownership of offshore bank accounts by senior public figures and politicians.