Labour leader acknowledges giving incorrect information

Labour leader Pat Rabbitte has acknowledged giving incorrect information about the use to which he put a £2,000 cash donation from Frank Dunlop.

His lawyers initially told the tribunal that most of the money was lodged to an account held by Democratic Left, his then party, on November 12th, 1992. This was a day after Mr Dunlop said he made the payment.

Mr Rabbitte said yesterday this was his best supposition at the time, designed to get the tribunal and his solicitor "off my back". He had been unable to read the bank statement the tribunal had sent him.

Now Mr Rabbitte says the cash was used to pay election expenses, though he has no recollection of what actually happened the money. "I was concerned with knocking on 20,000 doors in my constituency and fighting an election campaign for a party that was born only five months earlier."

Senior counsel Patricia Dillon, for the tribunal, noted lodgments of £500 and £1,060 to the account of Mr Rabbitte and his wife, Deirdre McDermott, respectively, on November 11th.

Mr Rabbitte said there was no possibility that any of Mr Dunlop's money was lodged to his or his wife's account.

Ms McDermott told the tribunal the cash lodged to her account came from her psychotherapy practice, children's allowance money and money for looking after her father.

In addition, there would have been election contributions because she was the "chief money hunter" to finance the campaign.

Earlier, Mr Rabbitte said he was aware of generalised concerns about corruption on Dublin County Council but wasn't aware of any particular allegation. On occasion, he would have been tempted to vote for certain developments but refrained from doing so because of the manner of orchestration of support for them. Fianna Fáil applied a whip on rezoning votes and party councillors were "marched in like ducks" when a vote was imminent.

Mr Rabbitte said he voted against the advice of planners to rezone land at Ballycullen in 1992. In October 1993, when the council voted to confirm the rezoning, Mr Rabbitte did not vote, while his two Democratic Left colleagues voted against it.

Between the two votes, he met Irish Times journalist Frank McDonald, who told him the proposal was "iffy". Neither would the planners confer approval on it. As a result, Democratic Left councillors voted against the confirming motion.

Mr Rabbitte said he had heard a lot of "pretty vengeful comment" by Paul Cullen of The Irish Times on radio about his absence from the confirming vote. He pointed out that the day of this vote coincided with a motion of no confidence in the government. This was why he didn't vote in the council.

Ms Dillon said the witness had issued a statement following Mr Dunlop's evidence which contained information from the latter's confidential interviews with the tribunal.

In doing so, Mr Rabbitte had flouted a High Court order.

Mr Rabbitte said Mr Dunlop had been saying things in the witness box that were markedly different from what he said in private interviews with the tribunal.

Speaking after his evidence, Mr Rabbitte said he regretting breaking the High Court order.

"Perhaps I shouldn't have done that," he told reporters outside the tribunal. He had intended to apologise while in the witness box.

"If politics intervenes I couldn't just fold my arms and have someone give evidence that is contrary, not just to the facts, but to the evidence he gave previously," Mr Rabbitte said.