A letter from the Flood Tribunal to Fine Gael appears to refute a claim by a party councillor that he is precluded from discussing donations he received from developers with an internal party inquiry.
However, Cllr Cathal Boland, who yesterday called on his party to publish the letter, rejected this interpretation and insisted he was precluded from giving the information required by the party inquiry. Fine Gael maintained the letter was confidential and could not be published.
Cllr Boland was one of three Fine Gael councillors deemed by the Fine Gael inquiry into payments to politicians two weeks ago to have further questions to answer. The party leader, Mr Bruton said he would oppose the ratification of any of the three as Dail candidates unless they provided further information about monies received.
Mr Boland refused to give the party inquiry details of certain donations he received, on the grounds that he was injuncted from doing so by the Flood Tribunal. Yesterday, he maintained that a letter from the Tribunal to Fine Gael on May 15th would show, he said, that "confidential information relating to the Tribunal may not be disclosed, other than as directed by the sole member, Mr Justice Flood". He said he had seen the full text of this letter.
However, the text of the letter, part of which has been made known to The Irish Times, appears to contradict this claim. The letter states that "confidential information relating to the Tribunal may not be disclosed other than as directed by the sole member, Mr Justice Flood".
However, it goes on: "This does not mean, however, that all information becomes confidential by virtue of its being disclosed to the Tribunal. Such information in the possession of any of the public representatives aforesaid may be disclosed by them as they see fit, provided that in so disclosing they do not refer directly or indirectly to the Tribunal and/or their dealings with the Tribunal."
This would appear to allow Mr Boland to disclose details of donations he received in the past to his party's inquiry, should he choose to.