Mr Liam Lawlor TD has admitted to the Fianna Fail inquiry into payments to politicians that he received around £40,000 from Mr Frank Dunlop in consultancy fees in the mid-1990s.
He did not specify the amount he was paid in consultancy fees in the statement issued after his appearance at the inquiry on Wednesday. These fees appear to be separate from the £40,000 cash payment which Mr Dunlop has told the Flood tribunal he gave to Mr Lawlor in 1991. Though the figures are similar, the dates and purposes of payment are different. Mr Lawlor has denied receiving £40,000 in a cash contribution from Mr Dunlop in 1991.
During his two-hour meeting with Fianna Fail's Standards in Public Life Committee, Mr Lawlor said he would provide documents to back up his evidence of receiving consultancy fees.
The Irish Times has confirmed that he estimated a figure in the region of £40,000 during the interview.
It was also learned yesterday that Mr Lawlor was among at least three Fianna Fail councillors and former councillors questioned by senior party officers before last year's local government elections concerning allegations of improper payments in relation to planning. That inquiry led to the party decision not to ratify Mr Colm McGrath as a Fianna Fail candidate.
Mr McGrath, who confirmed he had received £30,000 from Quarryvale developer Mr Owen O'Callaghan for a security contract, stood and was elected as an independent.
It is understood Mr Lawlor has provided this inquiry with considerable new information that was not available to the earlier one. The party inquiry committee, chaired by Dr Rory O'Hanlon TD, expects to have Mr Lawlor's supplementary documentation before tomorrow, when it will hold an all-day meeting to begin work on a draft report.
The committee is expected to give its report to the Taoiseach within 10 days. While Mr Lawlor will be the most central figure in the report, it will also give details of payments received by other Fianna Fail councillors. The committee has not yet decided whether simply to list the facts it has established, or to recommend disciplinary action against any individuals it believed has behaved improperly.
Ultimately, the Taoiseach will decide whether to propose disciplinary action - up to and excluding expulsion from the party - against any individual.