Gilmartin told tribunal about £500,000 request in 1998

Property developer Tom Gilmartin has said today that he informed the Mahon Tribunal nine years ago about the alleged incident in which he was asked to give IR£500,000 to the Taoiseach.

Mr Gilmartin told the tribunal yesterday that the request was made by an associate of Bertie Ahern after the then Minister for Labour had helped the developer in relation to a land deal.

He was criticised by tribunal lawyers for not revealing the incident earlier

However, Mr Gilmartin said today that he had actually told the tribunal about the request in 1998.

He said he was confused yesterday and hadn't realised that he had evidence showing he had given the information to the inquiry.