The former Fianna Fáil deputy Mr Liam Lawlor said yesterday he was "shocked" to hear allegations that politicians were being paid for their vote in rezoning motions.
Mr Lawlor told the Mahon tribunal that he could not believe the allegations made by the lobbyist, Mr Frank Dunlop. He found Mr Dunlop's evidence to the tribunal to be "absolutely staggering".
The tribunal is investigating allegations that politicians were bribed on behalf of developers, to vote in favour of the rezoning of lands in Carrickmines, in south Dublin.
Mr Dunlop had claimed that Mr Lawlor told him about a "system" in operation, whereby councillors were paid by developers to vote in a certain way in rezoning motions.
Mr Lawlor said he knew political donations were made to elected members but the idea the payments were contingent on a vote was "abhorrent" to him.
Anyone who offered him money in exchange for a vote would have got "short shrift", Mr Lawlor said.
He told the tribunal that two- thirds of people who financially supported him "never owned a blade of grass in Dublin". He didn't understand why Mr Dunlop would have to offer money to politicians as he was a skilled operator and had secured the development of the "visionary" City West business park without paying any money.
Asked if Mr Dunlop had ever offered him money for a vote, he said "he never suggested it to me. If he had, he would have got short shrift".
Mr Dunlop also told the tribunal that he received £25,000 from the businessman Mr Jim Kennedy for distribution to politicians for rezoning votes.
Yesterday Mr Lawlor said he had "absolutely no recollection" of this. "If Frank Dunlop got £25,000 from Jim Kennedy he's a better man that I thought he was," he said.
Asked why he did not seek to cross examine Mr Dunlop when he made these claims, Mr Lawlor said "what had that to do with me?"
He was sure that the people who were mentioned were "well capable" of replying to the allegations. Mr Dunlop had "as many versions of events as the weather," he said.
Mr Lawlor said he had no involvement in the Paisley Park/Jackson Way companies or in the lands at Carrickmines. He didn't even know the exact location of the lands in question, he said. He accepted he had met developers in connection with the lands but said they were consulting with him, as people had consulted with him for years.
Mr Lawlor said the "incompetence" and "lack of forward planning" in Dublin was to blame for the involvement of politicians in planning issues.
