MR Ben Dunne gave the Labour Party £15,000 on the night of a table quiz which it was hoped would raise between £200 and £300, the Minister for Finance, Mr Ruairi Quinn, told the tribunal.
Mr Quinn told how Mr Dunne handed over the cheque at a chance meeting in the Barge public house near Ranelagh, Dublin, in October 1990. The money was used for Mrs Mary Robinson's election campaign.
The Minister said he was due to be quizmaster at the event, which was being held upstairs in the pub. It was organised by the Rathgar branch of the Labour Party to raise funds for the Robinson campaign.
When he arrived at about 8 p.m. he saw a friend of his in the bar with Mr Dunne. Mr Quinn went to talk to them. He told his friend that some very good advertisements had been prepared by a person with whom he worked, but the party could not afford them.
"The discussion opened up and Mr Dunne said, `Are you short of funds?' and I said campaigns are always short of funds," Mr Quinn continued.
Mr Dunne then said "Hold on a second," left the bar for a few moments and came back with a cheque.
He didn't have a pen, Mr Quinn said, adding to laughter in the public gallery: "I offered him mine. It was a very expensive £1.50 felt pen." Mr Dunne asked to whom the cheque should be made out and was told "The Labour Party".
"He gave me the cheque and offered me back the pen and I told him he could keep the pen," Mr Quinn told counsel for the tribunal, Mr Denis McCullough SC.
Mr Quinn said the cheque was for £15,000. He informed the party general secretary, Mr Ray Kavanagh, about Mr Dunne's donation the following day.
Asked by Mr McCullough if he had indicated that he would do Mr Dunne any favours as a result of the cheque, Mr Quinn said No.
"Mr Dunne said I'm a great admirer of that woman. My wife thinks very highly of her. I'd like to help and make a contribution'." Mr Dunne had not sought anything in return.
Asked if Mr Dunne had sought any political favour since that occasion, Mr Quinn said, "Nothing whatsoever.
Mr McCullough asked whether Mr Dunne or the Dunnes Stores group had sought any favours from Mr Quinn, in his capacity as Minister for Finance.
Mr Quinn said not as a result of that payment. However, professional advisers acting for the Dunne family had made representations last autumn to officials in the Department about the possibility of changes in the taxation treatment of trusts.
Mr Quinn said he was not aware at the time that these inquiries were being made, and no approach had been made to him. The discussions had taken place at a professional level between officials of his Department and advisers of Dunnes.
The recommendation from his officials following the discussions was that no change in the relevant tax laws should be made, and he made no change.
"At no stage was I involved in any of those discussions. At no stage was any representation made directly to me."
Mr McCullough: "So nothing was done that would have benefited the Dunnes trust?"
Mr Quinn: "Not at all."
Asked how he would have reacted if he had been approached privately, the Minister said he would have felt under no obligation. He would have treated it the way he treated representations he got on a daily basis. Advice would have been sought from his officials and he would either have accepted or rejected that advice.
Counsel for Dunnes Holding Company and subsidiaries, Mr Garret Cooney SC, put it to Mr Quinn that there was nothing unusual in people making representations to the Department of Finance. Mr Quinn agreed that it was absolutely normal behaviour. The Dunnes approach had been made through the proper channels.
Mr Ray Kavanagh, general secretary of the Labour Party, told the tribunal that apart from the £15,000 payment made to Mr Quinn, the only other contribution relevant to the tribunal which had come to light was a £100 payment received by the Wexford town branch of the party from the local branch of Dunnes Stores between 1990 and 1994.