Former lobbyist's tribunal testimony inaccurate, claims Rabbitte

Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte said an account by a former lobbyist to a tribunal today over the controversial rezoning of land was inaccurate.

The Mahon Tribunal investigating the controversial rezoning of lands at Ballycullen in south Dublin is hearing evidence from former lobbyist Frank Dunlop.

On a meeting with the lobbyist over a decade ago, Mr Rabbitte said: “Mr Frank Dunlop’s statement today that ’he mentioned Pat Rabbitte’s support for the rezoning of land at Ballycullen’ at that meeting in 1992 is untrue and contradicts his earlier position at the tribunal.”

The party leader, who was then a member of Democratic Left on Dublin County Council, said as he was a witness he had seen transcripts of Mr Dunlop’s private interviews with the tribunal.

Mr Rabbitte said that in the transcripts the lobbyist did not mention discussing planning in general or Ballycullen on an uninvited visit to the politician’s house in 1992.

Mr Rabbitte said the donation Mr Dunlop gave to him was for IR£2,000 and was returned to him by cheque, which was then cashed.

“Although Mr Dunlop has said that he can’t recall whether the amount was £2,000 or £3,000 he has told the tribunal that if the cheque could be produced the amount on the cheque would reflect the amount donated. I did produce that cheque and it had been cashed. The cheque returned to Mr Dunlop in 1992 was procured by me in 1999 and produced to the tribunal at that time,” Mr Rabbitte said.

Mr Rabbitte said any donations received by him during his campaign in 1992, or during any other election campaign, were decided on after the election by himself and his constituency officers.

“In this case Mr Dunlop made an unsolicited donation in 1992 which was duly returned by cheque for record purposes and that cheque was cashed by him,” he said.

Mr Rabbitte said the lobbyist had already told the tribunal he did not travel to the politician’s house to discuss planning matters, and on no occasion had he requested the TD act in an improper way.

“It is not possible to reconcile his statement that he wouldn’t have given me a political donation only for my support for Ballycullen with his earlier statement that ‘to my knowledge Mr Rabbitte never voted for anything I was promoting’,” the TD said.

“I presume that the tribunal will put this and other conflicts in Mr Dunlop’s public and private statements of evidence to him now that he has completed direct evidence and I look forward to the earliest opportunity to give my evidence.”