Rumour mill has damaged body politic, says Keating

Rumours, witch-hunts and smears about corruption have done extraordinary damage to the morale of politicians, former minister of state and lord mayor of Dublin Michael Keating said at the tribunal.

The former Fine Gael politician, who later joined the Progressive Democrats, said he had never witnessed or experienced "the slightest shred of evidence" of corruption in Dublin planning in over two decades as a public representative.

"It is a tragedy for the body politic generally that the rumour-mill, witch-hunting and broad brush smears that are the currency of the times are doing extraordinary damage to the morale of public representatives generally and to many thousands of active members of political parties throughout the State," he told the tribunal in a letter in 1998.

Responding to a request for information from the tribunal, Mr Keating said that while he accepted the inquiry had a job to do, he resented being asked questions in this way. He suggested the tribunal should first "interrogate" people making allegations rather than "sending out a confetti of inquiries in this buck-shot manner".

Giving evidence yesterday, he said he still held the views expressed in the letter though he was not making a big deal about it. As a Fine Gael councillor for Greenhills, Mr Keating voted in favour of the rezoning of lands at Ballycullen in October 1992.

The landowner, Christopher Jones, has told the tribunal he made a £500 donation to Mr Keating.

The witness said this may have gone to his constituency fund. He said he did not mind where donations came from as long as there were no strings attached. He would never accept a single cent from anyone if there was any suggestion it was given in return for support on an issue.

Former Fianna Fáil councillor Colm McGrath said he was a victim of Frank Dunlop, whose evidence was riddled with inconsistencies.

But Mr Dunlop stood by his allegation that he paid a £1,000 bribe to Mr McGrath for his vote on Ballycullen. Mr McGrath had told him when asking for money that "we're making multi-millionaires out of people and we're getting nothing out of it".

Fianna Fáil councillors Larry Butler and Charlie O'Connor said they supported the Ballycullen rezoning because of the need for more housing. Both received £500 donations from Mr Jones, he has told the tribunal.

Sheila Terry, who was in the PDs in the early 1990s but is now a Fine Gael councillor, said she could not explain why all the PDs had voted for the rezoning. She denied there was any block vote by the party. She said she had no recollection of a £500 donation from Mr Jones in 1992.

Lawyers for deceased councillor Jack Larkin said an allegation by Mr Dunlop that he paid the politician £1,000 did not stand up because Mr Larkin was recovering from a heart bypass at the time of the rezoning.

Between September 1992 and January 1993, Mr Larkin was either in hospital or in a nursing home, the tribunal heard.