Government chief whip Tom Kitt has said he did not provide incorrect information to an internal Fianna Fáil inquiry six years ago during which he failed to disclose a £2,000 donation from a Dublin property developer.
Mr Kitt said yesterday that because the donation was received during a period when he was not a member of Dublin County Council he was not required to tell the Fianna Fáil inquiry about it.
The donation was made by property developer Christopher Jones to Mr Kitt during the November 1992 general election campaign.
It was one of three received by the Dublin South TD from the developer in the early 1990s which amounted to £3,650 in total.
Yesterday Mr Kitt said he had left the council in March 1992 when he was promoted from the back benches to a junior ministry.
"That inquiry related specifically as my period as a councillor from 1979 to 1992, and I was well gone by the time this donation arrived in late 1992. I answered my questions to the Fianna Fáil inquiry absolutely correctly."
He told the Fianna Fáil Standards in Public Life Committee that he received no donation greater than £500 from a developer when he was a council member.
Mr Kitt said that because he had left the council in early 1992, he had "no hand, act or party in influencing the decision" on rezoning lands at Ballycullen which belonged to Mr Jones.
The Fianna Fáil Standards in Public Life Committee, which was established in April 2000 to investigate allegations of payments to its members in the wake of revelations by lobbyist Frank Dunlop, interviewed more than 70 former members of Dublin county council, including Mr Kitt.
Speaking on RTÉ radio yesterday, Mr Kitt reiterated his position that he had forgotten about the £2,000 donation, and this was the reason why he had previously failed to disclose it to the Mahon tribunal.
He blamed the omission on poor records that he kept at the time. He said he was "annoyed" that he had not been able to recall the donation, but was happy to clarify the situation at the tribunal yesterday.
Mr Kitt is the latest Fianna Fáil politician to have clarified the information he provided to the internal Fianna Fáil inquiry.
Senator Don Lydon and Dublin North TD GV Wright both admitted getting £5,000 and £2,000 respectively from Mr Jones in 1992, but which they both forgot to tell the Fianna Fáil inquiry about.