A defiant Dublin West Fianna Fail TD, Mr Liam Lawlor, will today plead his innocence when he appears before his party's inquiry into payments to politicians. Mr Lawlor, who has admitted receiving payments from political lobbyist Mr Frank Dunlop, will say that the money was for ongoing payments for consultancy work, it is understood.
Mr Dunlop has alleged that he paid £40,000 in a once-off cash payment to a "powerful individual". He said he also paid another £8,500 to the individual in April and May of 1991.
Sources close to the inquiry, chaired by the Fianna Fail parliamentary party chairman, Dr Rory O'Hanlon, said last night they expected a long tough meeting with Mr Lawlor today. He is due to meet the committee at 9 a.m.
There is no question at this stage of Mr Lawlor resigning voluntarily from the party. Sources close to the TD said he was going into the inquiry today to "clear his name". However, there is growing unease about the issue among Fianna Fail parliamentary party members who are keeping their distance from him.
Several told The Irish Times yesterday that the longer the issue ran on, the more damage it was doing to Fianna Fail. "The sooner this is resolved one way or another, the better," one backbencher said.
If the Fianna Fail inquiry finds any wrongdoing by a member, the consensus is that that person should immediately resign from the party, backbenchers said.
The inquiry team, which consists of Dr O'Hanlon, the party general secretary, Mr Martin Macken, and three TDs, Mr David Andrews, Mr Dick Roche and Mr Michael Ahern, expect to complete their interviews on Friday. They will meet all day on Saturday to compile a draft report.
The report will not make recommendations but will be passed to the parliamentary party and the national executive for consideration next week.
The party's code of ethics, agreed at the party ardfheis in March, sets out procedures for such inquiries. It states that "if deemed necessary", the Standards in Public Life Committee shall report the outcome of an investigation to the parliamentary party or national executive "as appropriate".
In this case the report will first go to the parliamentary party and then be considered by the national executive, which will decide on any penalties. These include expulsion from the party.
The inquiry held second interviews with party members yesterday. These mainly involved members coming back to the inquiry with documents and records they did not have with them for their first interviews.
Meanwhile, the Fine Gael senator Mr Liam Cosgrave has written to his party leader, Mr John Bruton, complaining that he was treated unfairly in the report of his party's inquiry into payments to councillors. Mr Cosgrave is understood to be annoyed at the way his account of payments he received was presented in the report of the inquiry, chaired by Mr James Nugent SC.
While Mr Cosgrave would not comment on the matter yesterday, supporters in Fine Gael said he provided the inquiry with information it did not include in its report. This includes a letter from a third party which, according to these supporters, backs up Mr Cosgrave's recollection of his receipts.
The report, published last Friday, said Mr Cosgrave had been unable to provide a detailed account of the circumstances in which he received about £5,000 in donations from Mr Dunlop and others.
On this basis, Mr Bruton said, he was among three councillors who would not be allowed to stand for the Dail in future unless they provided further clarification. The report said Mr Cosgrave did not keep "his election expenses separate from his personal finances. He does not have any records of income or expenditure."
Mr Cosgrave, who could not recall details of the circumstances in which these payments were made to him, voted for the Quarryvale, Cherrywood and Finns town rezonings. However, he told the Fine Gael inquiry he categorically rejected "any suggestion that he received any of these sums in exchange for any vote, or that there was any conditions attached to them whatsoever".
The other Fine Gael councillor named in report as not having given enough information, Ms Anne Devitt, confirmed last night that she was still taking legal advice about possible action against Fine Gael. The third councillor, Mr Cathal Boland, has said he did not give all the details to the inquiry team because he was leaving the matter to the Flood tribunal.