The Tánaiste, Ms Harney, has confirmed she met property developer Mr Tom Gilmartin but declined to say if he told her of his alleged meeting in Leinster House with government ministers in 1989.
Ms Harney was minister of state for the environment at the time that Mr Gilmartin gave £50,000 to the then minister for the environment, Mr Pádraig Flynn.
At the planning tribunal yesterday, Mr Gilmartin said he had met Ms Harney at a house-warming party in Dalkey, south Dublin, and told her about his visit to the Dáil. He said he told Ms Harney "what was going on" at that time.
Ms Harney's official spokes- man said she had "indicated in media interviews a number of years ago that Tom Gilmartin was introduced to her at a house-warming party in Dalkey".
The spokesman was speaking from China, where Ms Harney is on a visit for St Patrick's Day.
The spokesman went on: "He did indicate to her that he was having difficulties getting his projects up and running and he expressed frustration at that. That was the sum total of their conversation. It was relatively brief." He declined to respond on the record when asked whether Mr Gilmartin specified to Ms Harney that he had been to Leinster House and met with most of the then Cabinet in the Fianna Fáil rooms.
However, it is understood that Ms Harney contends that what Mr Gilmartin suggested yesterday was not discussed when they met at the party.
Mr Gilmartin's claim about the alleged meeting has been denied by several ministers of the time, including the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, although Senator Mary O'Rourke has told the tribunal that she recalls such a meeting.
Ms Harney said on Thursday, January 28th, 1999, that allegations made by Mr Gilmartin in the Sunday Independent interview four days previously "rang alarm bells" because she remembered meeting him in the late 1980s.
"I was introduced to him at a party in south Dublin, a house of a private citizen, and at that time he was very critical of the way that business was done," she said then.
Mr Gilmartin's allegations about the money he gave to Mr Flynn strained Ms Harney's relationship with the Taoiseach in the final week of January 1989.
After previously indicating that he could recall only one meeting with Mr Gilmartin, Mr Ahern provided details to the Tánaiste about three meetings he had with Mr Gilmartin.
