Lydon tried to mislead FF inquiry, Flood told

Senator Don Lydon has been accused at the Flood tribunal of deliberately trying to mislead an internal Fianna Fáil inquiry in 1999 into corruption within the Dublin planning process.

The tribunal has established Mr Lydon failed to disclose tp to the inquiry two separate donations of £5,000 towards his Seanad election campaign in 1992.

One of the payments was made by Mr Michael Smurfit and the second by a man whose property was rezoned following a motion proposed by Mr Lydon.

The Fianna Fáil senator denied today there was any "cause and effect" link between the second donation and his signing of the motion.

He didn't mention the donations to the inquiry because he didn't remember them at the time.

Mr Colm Allen, SC for Mr Frank Dunlop, said it "defies belief" that Mr Lydon would have forgotten what he himself described as the two biggest donations of his political career and accused him of trying to mislead the Fianna Fáil inquiry.

"Why would I hide them?" the senator responded. "I've no reason to conceal these things."

Mr Justice Fergus Flood asked Mr Lydon if it was not a "matter of duty" for him to disclose the two £5,000 donations. "Surely as a matter of conscience it was implicit that you should tell your governing body . . . what you did in the past," he said.

Mr Lydon said he would have mentioned it if he had been asked.

"Is the tribunal to believe that sums of four or five thousands pounds dropped into your lap like snuff at a wake would be forgotten?" Mr Justice Flood asked.

"Yes," replied Mr Lydon.

He claimed there were mitigating circumstances, relating to his work as a psychologist, involved in both of these donations. Mr Justice Flood granted Mr Lydon leave to detail these circumstances in a letter which would only be made public with full consent from all involved.

Earlier, the senator said he believed developers often gave money to county councillors in the hope it would influence them. These were people who "treated money like confetti at a wedding", Mr Lydon said. He insisted, however, that councillors never let any inducements determine the way they voted.

"That's the way the political system worked," he said, adding he would "prefer if it were done differently" but that was the way it was. He accepted these developers stood to gain hugely if their lands were rezoned but said he had "nothing against people getting rich".