The Mahon tribunal was described as "an outrage and a disgrace" yesterday for allowing unfounded allegations to be made against former Fine Gael minister Seán Barrett, who will be a candidate in next year's general election.
A Fine Gael spokesman said the tribunal had disgraced itself by the manner in which it had given a platform to environmental activist Michael Smith to say that a developer had claimed to have bribed Mr Barrett in the early 1990s.
"Seán Barrett gave evidence to the tribunal only a few weeks ago and none of this was put to him in evidence because it is simply not true. It is an outrage and a disgrace for the tribunal to have allowed these unfounded allegations to be put into wide circulation," said the Fine Gael spokesman.
Mr Smith alleged during his evidence on Thursday that a property developer, the late Phil Monahan, told him in the early 1990s that plans by his company, Monarch Properties, to rezone Cherrywood in south Dublin would go through because he was paying councillors.
Mr Smith, who was involved in the campaign against the Cherrywood development in the early 1990s, claimed that Mr Monahan had told him that Mr Barrett would ensure that his Fine Gael colleagues from outside the area voted for the rezoning.
However, Paul O'Higgins SC, for Mr Barrett, accused Mr Smith of peddling Mr Monahan's malicious rumour to journalists and told him he was a coward for not making the claim in public.
Mr O'Higgins suggested that the boast by Mr Monahan was an effort to discredit Mr Barrett because he had opposed the Cherrywood development at every stage and had spoken out against it.
Mr Smith said the alleged remark was made outside a public meeting about Monarch's proposal in 1992. Mr Monahan also claimed to be close to Mr Barrett who, he said, insured his racehorses.
The allegation was the prime reason he later put up the money for a reward for information about planning corruption, an act that led to revelations by whistleblower James Gogarty and the subsequent setting up of the planning tribunal.
However, Mr O'Higgins said Mr Barrett had never insured the developer's horses. He accused Mr Smith of the utmost naivety for believing Mr Monahan.
He said the allegation had greatly damaged Mr Barrett over the years.
Mr Smith said Mr Monahan had a mischievous twinkle in his eye and he agreed it was a possibility that he was seeking to discredit an opponent. He insisted he had acted scrupulously by passing on the information only to those who could investigate the matter, such as journalists and the tribunal.
He acknowledged that Mr Barrett had spoken effectively in support of the residents against Monarch and expressed regret that the allegation had cast a shadow over the politician for so long.
He belonged to a number of organisations that campaigned aggressively against unsavoury developments in the Carrickmines Valley. They called on residents to vote out "politicians on the fiddle", drew attention to the voting patterns of councillors on rezonings and called on voters to ring their local representatives.
He said he was horrified by the lies coming from Monarch in its publicity roadshow, which he described as "an exercise in manipulation and distortion".
