Banking inquiry: Pat Rabbitte rejects allegations

Former Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte has been informed he features in the latest round of allegations made by a whistleblower who complained about the conduct of the Oireachtas Banking Inquiry.

It has been alleged by a whistleblower under the Protected Disclosures Act that Mr Rabbitte was given an unfair advantage before his appearance at the inquiry in July, as a result of being given information in advance by his party colleague and inquiry chairman Ciarán Lynch.

Speaking to The Irish Times, Mr Rabbitte last night rejected the allegation.

Mr Rabbitte said the only information to pass between himself and Mr Lynch was months ago when he left an article from The Irish Times by Miriam Lord on Mr Lynch's desk.

It referenced a letter he had published in this newspaper in January 2009 and it discussed whether the Department of Finance came to the late night meeting on September 29th, 2008, with legislation prepared to nationalise Anglo Irish Bank.

Mr Rabbitte said: “I simply drew the attention of the chairman to the existence of the letter. I transferred it to the office of the chairman of the inquiry.”

‘Immensely sceptical’

He said he was “immensely sceptical” that a published letter in a newspaper could form the basis of an allegation.

“I would query whether this is a cuckoo in the banking inquiry nest.”

Mr Rabbitte has been contacted by the clerk of the Dáil, Peter Finnegan, to submit a response.

The clerk will then decide if the claim by the whistleblower warrants further investigation.

Inquiry members were briefed earlier this week that new allegations had been made about the work of the inquiry by a whistleblower.

The inquiry has already been delayed by up to two months after a whistleblower made allegations about its conduct.

A report released yesterday found no substance to those claims.