Wright got £20,000, half from Dunlop, says report

The Fianna Fail TD, Mr G. V. Wright, received £20,000 in donations over a two-year period, including £10,000 from Mr Frank Dunlop, according to the party's report on payments to politicians.

The first donation from Mr Dunlop was £2,000 in cash, in 1991, for the local election campaign. Mr Wright became a councillor in 1985 and was Fianna Fail whip ail group on Dublin County Council from 1991 until 1994.

In November 1992, Mr Dunlop asked him to visit, telling him Mr Owen O'Callaghan was with him. At that meeting he received £5,000 in cash from Mr Dunlop and a cheque for £5,000 from Mr O'Callaghan.

"G. V. Wright stated these donations were not solicited by him," the report says. "They were political donations made during the general election campaign. The issue of Quarryvale did not arise at this meeting. The substance of what was said at this meeting related to the 1992 general election."

During the 1992 campaign, Mr Wright also received £2,500 from Malahide Marina Ltd, £1,000 from Andelieu Ltd, £1,000 from Monarch Properties, and £500 from Ballycullen Farms. "He received no donations from the developer Michael Bailey. However, Mr Bailey did participate in the constituency golf classics," the report adds.

In 1993, he received another "unsolicited" donation of £3,000 in cash from Mr Dunlop, for the Seanad election campaign.

"In his discussions with the committee, G. V. Wright stressed that he would stand over his decisions on the basis that his judgment would be shaped by what was right for the area in question," the committee reports. "He emphasised the amount of elections he campaigned in over an 18-month period and the cost of such campaigns. He stated that between the 1992 general election and the subsequent Seanad elections he effectively spent four months on the road canvassing for votes."

Mr Wright stressed that while he was party whip on the council, there was no whip in relation to planning matters.

He also said that he voted against the proposal relating to land at Baldoyle in which Mr Dunlop had had an interest, and that he proposed the rezoning of 13 acres of land at Portmarnock which was owned by or connected to Mr Bailey.