Dunlop denies £55,000 payment to politician

Mahon tribunal:Lobbyist Frank Dunlop has denied that he paid £55,000 to a senior politician at the time of the general election in 1992.

Mr Dunlop told the Mahon tribunal he was called in to run Fianna Fáil's 1992 election campaign after the Progressive Democrats pulled out of government over the beef tribunal.

He said that at the time there was a lot of disorganisation and confusion in Fianna Fáil and he was called in to headquarters in Mount Street to "run the show".

"It was a bit like the mafia," Mr Dunlop said.

He had a meeting with then taoiseach Albert Reynolds and "Diggy", press secretary Seán Duignan, on November 17th and moved in to Fianna Fáil headquarters on November 20th for the duration of the campaign.

Counsel for the tribunal Patricia Dillon SC questioned Mr Dunlop about a cash withdrawal of £55,000 he made on November 10th, 1992.

She outlined how Mr Dunlop had called in an invoice of £70,000 from Cork developer Owen O'Callaghan, issued the previous July.

She said the records showed that Mr O'Callaghan initially wrote a cheque for the amount, but instead sent a credit transfer for the sum.

When the money arrived, on the same day, Mr Dunlop went to his bank and withdrew £55,000 in cash. He said it was the first and only time he made such a large cash withdrawal.

Ms Dillon said the amount was vast and was a "significant and unusual transaction". She pointed out that Mr Dunlop also had £18,500 in cash available to him at the time and she asked why he made such a large withdrawal.

"I needed the money in my hand at that stage," Mr Dunlop said.

Ms Dillon outlined payments Mr Dunlop made to councillors about the time of the withdrawal, including £25,000 to the late Liam Lawlor and £5,000 to now retired councillor GV Wright.

She said the amount totalled £40,500, which was far short of the £73,500 cash he had available.

She suggested that the £55,000 withdrawal could not be explained by "piecemeal" payments to councillors. She asked Mr Dunlop if it was possible that he withdrew the amount to give a single payment to someone on November 10th.

"Is it possible that what in fact happened is that you made a substantial payment to the Fianna Fáil political party or you might have made a substantial payment to some senior politician, some senior Fianna Fáil politician?" Ms Dillon asked.

Mr Dunlop said he did not.

Tribunal chairman Judge Alan Mahon asked if the tribunal could take it that the bulk of the £73,500 was used to pay politicians. Mr Dunlop said he could have kept some of it or used it personally.

He also told the tribunal that Mr O'Callaghan was "spitting fire" after going for a walk with Fianna Fáil councillor Finbarr Hanrahan.

Mr Dunlop said that on the day of a crucial vote for the Quarryvale project in December 1992, Mr O'Callaghan disappeared with Mr Hanrahan and they "walked around the block".

"When Mr O'Callaghan came back he was spitting fire," Mr Dunlop said. He said Mr O'Callaghan never told him directly that he was asked for money by Mr Hanrahan, but "I suspected very strongly Hanrahan made demands of Mr O'Callaghan and Mr O'Callaghan refused."

Mr Dunlop is to continue his evidence on Thursday.

The appearance of broadcaster and journalist Eamon Dunphy, scheduled for Friday, has been postponed due to the unavailability of counsel to cross-examine him.