Tom Hand is remembered by observers of the councils on which he served from the early 1970s to the mid-1990s as an unostentatious, hardworking representative who was "very pro-development".
Mr Hand, who represented the Clonskeagh area of south Co Dublin, died in 1996 and was succeeded on Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council by his son, Pat. Last night he refused to comment on the allegations made about his father in the Irish Independent, other than to say: "It's very hard for someone who's dead to defend themselves."
Mr Hand snr sponsored a number of controversial rezoning motions in the early 1990s which went against the advice of planners. He teamed up with Fianna Fail councillors to propose some of these motions.
Colleagues who were also on the council at the time said yesterday they found the Irish Independent story particularly incredible because of the amount of money said to have been requested.
Mr Hand performed consistently well in local elections, topping the poll even when Fine Gael was doing poorly nationally.