Examples of amnesia

Both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael held internal party inquiries into corruption in 2000. Now it transpires that numerous councillors neglected, or forgot, to to give the inquiries details of donations they had received from the developer, Christopher Jones, and the lobbyist, Frank Dunlop, donations which the Planning Tribunal has since uncovered

Fianna Fáil

Seamus Brennan: Seamus Brennan told the Fianna Fáil inquiry the largest donation he would have received from the construction sector would have been £500.

Christopher Jones, owner of the Ballycullen lands which were rezoned after massive payments to councillors by Jones and Frank Dunlop, told the Tribunal he personally gave Seamus Brennan £3,000 for the Fianna Fáil party, and that an intermediary donated a further £1,700 on Jones's behalf at a fundraising event in Seamus Brennan's constituency. Seamus Brennan told the Tribunal he had been merely the "postman" for the donation. He initially said he had had no contact with Christopher Jones, and corrected this to say he had had no contact with Christopher Jones in relation to fundraising golf classics or to the Ballycullen lands.

Liam Creaven: Liam Creavin told the Fianna Fáil inquiry he had received no political donations. According to Christopher Jones's records, he was paid £1,000 in 1992 as a "local election donation". There was no local election in 1992. Liam Creavin told the Tribunal he had no recollection of this.

Tom Kitt:Tom Kitt told the Fianna Fáil inquiry he had not received donations of more than £500 as a councillor. Christopher Jones said he gave Tom Kitt more than £3,000. Tom Kitt told the Tribunal he had no specific recollection of the cheques and said his earlier response to the Tribunal had not been as comprehensive as it should have been. Tom Kitt told the Tribunal he had not provided incorrect information to the Fianna Fáil inquiry, as he was not a councillor at the time he received the payment, having left in 1992 before the Ballycullen rezoning vote.

Don Lydon: Don Lydon told the Fianna Fáil inquiry he received donations of £1,420 from Frank Dunlop as well as various other donations, and made no mention of Christopher Jones. He has recently told the Tribunal he received £7,000 from Christopher Jones in 1992, about which he had forgotten to tell the Fianna Fáil inquiry.

Colm McGrath: Colm McGrath had left Fianna Fáil by the time of the party's inquiry in 2000, and did not participate. Frank Dunlop told the Tribunal he paid Colm McGrath £1,000 in connection with the Ballycullen rezoning in 1992, as well as other payments. Colm McGrath denied receiving the Ballycullen payment, and said other payments were political donations. Christopher Jones told the Tribunal he gave Colm McGrath £1,700 at fundraising functions between 1992 and 1999. Colm McGrath said he had no detailed records of these, but said he had received some support from Christopher Jones.

Ned Ryan: Ned Ryan told the Fianna Fáil inquiry he did not receive any donations from developers over £500 and had received no money from Frank Dunlop. At the Tribunal, Ned Ryan acknowledged receiving a £1,000 donation from Christopher Jones in 1992.

GV Wright: GV Wright told the Fianna Fáil inquiry he got £500 from Christopher Jones and a total of £10,000 from Frank Dunlop, all in unsolicited political donations. The Tribunal has said its information was that he had received £5,000, not £500, from Christopher Jones. GV Wright told the Tribunal recently that he had received £2,500 from Christopher Jones, in donations in 1992 and 1997.

Fine Gael

Michael Joe Cosgrave: Michael Joe Cosgrave told the Fine Gael inquiry he received an unsolicited donation of £1,000 from Frank Dunlop in 1993, and a further £500 donation from Monarch Properties. He said he had not received payments from any other developers. The list of donations which Christopher Jones gave the Tribunal included a payment of £1,000 to Michael Joe Cosgrave in 1992. Michael Joe Cosgrave told the Tribunal he had no recollection whatsoever of the payment, and did not keep records of political donations he received.

Labour

Pat Rabbitte: Pat Rabbitte told the Tribunal that £2,000 which he had received in an unsolicited donation from Frank Dunlop in 1992 was a "non-donation", as he had returned the money shortly afterward. He said he had not volunteered information about the donation to a Garda inquiry into planning corruption, or in his statement to the Tribunal, because it was not a donation.

John O'Halloran: In his initial dealings with the Tribunal, former Labour councillor John O'Halloran said he had received no money from Frank Dunlop other than a donation of £2,500 towards election expenses in a 1996 by-election. He subsequently told the Tribunal he had remembered an earlier payment of £500 from Frank Dunlop, made while he was a councillor, which was unconnected to Ballycullen or any other specific development. Frank Dunlop told the Tribunal he gave John O'Halloran a "composite donation" of £5,000, part of which was in return for support on Ballycullen.