Kitt forgot to inform tribunal of over #3,000 in donations

Mahon tribunal: Government chief whip Tom Kitt forgot to tell the tribunal about more than £3,000 (€3,809) in donations from landowner Christopher Jones, it emerged yesterday.

Mr Kitt, who is still trying to establish with his bank how much he got from Mr Jones, yesterday admitted his initial response to tribunal inquiries wasn't as comprehensive as it should have been.

Last month, he wrote to the tribunal acknowledging he got a £500 (€634) donation from Mr Jones in 1991, according to senior counsel for the tribunal Patricia Dillon. He also said he received £800 (€1,015) from an employee of Mr Jones, Frank Brooks, at a golf classic last year.

But Ms Dillon said this did not represent all the payments Mr Kitt received from Mr Jones. The tribunal had sent him financial records, including copies of cheques, for three other payments, for £2,000 (€2,539) in 1992, £500 (€634) in 1992 and €650 in 2002.

Mr Kitt had then replied saying he had no specific recollection of these cheques.

Due to pressure of work, his response to the tribunal letter hadn't been as comprehensive as it ought to have been, he said.

The tribunal is currently investigating donations totalling over £45,000 (€57,138) made by Mr Jones to 20 politicians at the time he was seeking to rezone his lands at Ballycullen, south Dublin.

Mr Jones also engaged former government press secretary Frank Dunlop, who alleges he made payments to seven councillors, not including Mr Kitt, to secure the rezoning. Mr Kitt, whose Dáil constituency bordered Ballycullen, said he wasn't disputing the payments were made by Mr Jones.

Any payments he received were given at election time or were given for fundraisers for his constituency organisation, Mr Kitt stressed. Asked about his failure to tell the Fianna Fáil inquiry into payments to politicians about the £2,000 payment, he said the inquiry had dealt with his period on Dublin county council between 1979 and February 1992.

He then left the council to become a minister of state, before the £2,000 payment by Mr Jones in November 1992.

He hadn't recalled this payment until recently but he was absolutely satisfied that if he had, the questions at this inquiry had related to his time as a councillor and he had answered these properly.

He agreed the £2,000 payment was significant and the largest contribution he had received at this time.

He recalled being lobbied by Mr Jones, Mr Brooks and another Jones employee, Oliver Brooks, about the Ballycullen rezoning while he was still a councillor. Mr Jones may have asked for his support and he would have pointed out the concerns of local residents. He was not a member of the council when the motion to rezone Ballycullen came up in November 1992 and he did not ask anyone on the council to do anything in relation to the matter.

Earlier, Mr Kitt contradicted evidence given by Mary Harney last month about her concerns about planning corruption when she was on the council. Ms Harney said she discussed these concerns with Mr Kitt, but he said yesterday he had no recollection of any discussion.

He said he didn't have any concerns about corruption in the planning process when he was on the council.

The system was cumbersome and some councillors seemed to rezone land in all cases but he wasn't aware of any generalised concern about corruption.

Ms Dillon said Ms Harney told the tribunal she did have concerns and had discussed these with Mr Kitt and another then Fianna Fáil councillor, Chris Flood. However, Mr Kitt said he didn't recollect any such conversation.

If Ms Harney felt she could elaborate on this, that would be fine, Mr Kitt said.

He said he wasn't contacted by gardaí when they held an investigation into allegations of planning corruption in 1993.