The Labour Party TD Mr Pat Rabbitte has vehemently denied a claim from the former Workers' Party leader, Mr Tomas Mac Giolla, that he abstained on a crucial Quarryvale development vote in 1991.
Mr Rabbitte, a former Workers' Party TD, who said on Wednesday that he received, but later returned, £2,000 from Mr Frank Dunlop as an election donation in 1992, was last night embroiled in a bitter row with Mr Mac Giolla, his former party leader, on the matter.
Mr Mac Giolla claimed in a statement yesterday that Mr Rabbitte was wrong in saying he voted against Quarryvale.
"It was a matter of serious disquiet in 1991 when our three councillors on Dublin County Council, Mr Rabbitte, Mr Eamon Gilmore and Mr Don Tipping, departed from the vital council meeting before the vote on the Quarryvale rezoning proposal took place," Mr Mac Giolla said.
He said the failure to uphold party policy was raised by himself and others at the subsequent meeting of the Dublin Regional Council of the Workers' Party. "But we never received an adequate explanation for the early departure of our three councillors."
An explanation was now more urgent than ever given Mr Dunlop's statement to the Flood tribunal that "sometimes an abstention was as good as a vote", Mr Mac Giolla added.
He said the fact that Mr Rabbitte returned the money to Mr Dunlop did not change the fact that he actually received money and was therefore in possession of information vital to the Flood tribunal which he as a member of Dail Eireann voted to establish.
Mr Rabbitte said last night he was not in the council chamber for the Quarryvale vote because ironically he had to be in the Dail to support the Local Government Bill splitting Dublin County Council into three local authorities at Mr Mac Giolla's request.
He said the vote was never raised in the Workers' Party from that day to this.
He said he voted against other Quarryvale decisions in 1992 and 1993.
On the RTE Radio Five Seven Live programme last night, Mr Rabbitte hung up after Mr Mac Giolla made certain allegations to him about his relationship with Frank Dunlop and after he was asked by the presenter, Myles Dungan, why he told a programme researcher recently he had received no money from Mr Dunlop.
Mr Rabbitte said to Mr Dungan that Mr Dunlop had called unannounced to his home with u£2,000 and he told Mr Dunlop he had to refer the matter of the money to his party. He said he returned the money after polling day because it was decided there would be a possible conflict of interest.
Last night Mr Rabbitte's party colleague and fellow Workers' Party Dublin county councillor in 1991, Mr Eamon Gilmore TD, supported Mr Rabbitte's version of events.
He said the day of the Quarrvale vote, May 16th, was a Dail sitting day, and he and Mr Rabbitte were required to be present to debate and vote on the Local Government Bill which Mr Mac Giolla had raised on the order of business.
"Tomas Mac Giolla, Pat Rabbitte and myself all participated in votes on the Local Government Bill on May 16th and had he checked his facts before issuing his statement he would have had the answer to the question he raised," he said.
The statement by Mr Mac Giolla was "malicious" and a "deliberate distortion" of the facts.