Fianna Fail is considering extending its internal inquiry into whether any of its elected representatives accepted money for planning favours up to the present day following yesterday's revelations at the Flood tribunal.
Senior Fianna Fail sources told The Irish Times last night it was now likely the inquiry would be extended. This follows the revelations from lobbyist Mr Frank Dunlop that payments to one individual were "ongoing". This was greeted with "shock and dismay" by Ministers attending the special one-day Government strategy meeting in Faithlegg House, Co Waterford, yesterday.
The Fine Gael inquiry into any payments to party members already embraces the possibility of ongoing payments, it is understood. An interim report by the inquiry chairman, Mr James Nu gent SC, has been sent to the Flood tribunal. The report is understood to conclude there is no evidence of such activity.
Up to 30 Dublin politicians and 14 landowners were implicated in a widespread network of corruption outlined by Mr Dunlop in dramatic evidence yesterday. Fulfilling expectations that he would "tell all", Mr Dunlop yesterday identified a further £75,000 he paid to politicians in return for their support on rezonings, on top of the £112,000 he detailed before Easter.
Fianna Fail deputy Mr Liam Lawlor, who has admitted that he received money from Mr Dunlop, last night rejected emphatically that he was the politician receiving "ongoing" payments.
Contacted by The Irish Times, Mr Lawlor said: "I know nothing about it." Asked if he was the politician referred to, he said: "Most positively not."
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, were briefed as details of Mr Dunlop's dramatic evidence unfolded yesterday. Mr Ahern said last night he did not want to comment on the revelations until he had been briefed in more detail. However, Ms Harney told The Irish Times she was shocked at the extraordinary revelations. She did not believe any member of the Government was on Mr Dunlop's list but said if so, there would be implications. "Many people said all of this stuff happened in the past and therefore we should not have inquiries. I never thought unsavoury things were still going on. That is deeply disturbing and it proves that some people don't care."
Ms Harney said that if it emerges that a sitting politician accepted money, he or she was not a fit person to be in the Dail.
Fianna Fail TD Mr Brian Lenihan, who is chairman of the all-party Committee on the Constitution, said last night that party members had to co-operate with the Flood tribunal or they would be "out". Mr Lenihan told RTE's Prime Time programme "If there is any discrepancy established by the tribunal, they are out".
At the tribunal hearings in Dublin Castle yesterday, it transpired that a further £250,000 which flowed through Mr Dunlop's bank accounts remains unaccounted for, and is also thought to have been paid to politicians throughout the 1990s. Mr Dunlop is expected to identify these recipients at a later date.
He also revealed that three of the politicians he identified as receiving money attempted to contact him after he gave evidence two weeks ago.
Asked by tribunal lawyer Mr Patrick Hanratty SC if he interpreted one of the contacts as a threat, Mr Dunlop said: "I have been around too long now to interpret things as threats. I just took it as typical".
Mr Dunlop wrote the names of the politicians and landowners with whom he worked on sheets of paper, which the tribunal has now locked away in a safe. Their names will not be revealed until they are called to give evidence.
Among the payments revealed yesterday were individual sums of £25,000, £10,000 (twice) and £5,000 (twice). The rest were mostly for smaller sums of £500 to £1,000, all paid from 1992 onwards.
One councillor, described by Mr Dunlop as "fairly insatiable," got £2,000 in the carpark of Dublin County Council or nearby. Another politician "very readily accepted" £3,000 in cash, but the money was later returned by cheque by his party.
Mr Dunlop said the aim was to get councillors "onside" for rezoning motions, or at least to get them to absent themselves "which is as good as a vote".
Money was even given to councillors who were "unhelpful" or had supported rival projects in the hope of encouraging a change of mind.
To fund his lobbying of politicians, Mr Dunlop built up a "stash of cash" funded by people who wanted their lands rezoned. He detailed payments totalling £185,000 into this "war-chest" by 14 different landowners.
Mr Dunlop admitted he used this fund for personal expenditure as well as for payments to politicians. Most but not all of his clients would have been aware he was making the payments.
