Rabbitte says lobbyist's evidence inaccurate and contradictory

Labour leader Pat Rabbitte has accused Frank Dunlop of giving untrue and contradictory evidence to the tribunal.

Mr Rabbitte issued a statement last night in response to Mr Dunlop's claim at the tribunal that he mentioned a controversial rezoning to the politician when giving him a cash donation during the 1992 general election campaign.

He said Mr Dunlop's claim to have mentioned Mr Rabbitte's support for the rezoning at Ballycullen when making the donation was untrue and contradicted his earlier position at the tribunal.

Mr Rabbitte again insisted that the donation was for £2,000, and not £3,000 as Mr Dunlop has stated. He pointed out that he had identified the cheque used to repay the donation, which was now with the tribunal.

He said it wasn't possible to reconcile Mr Dunlop's claim that he wouldn't have given the money if Mr Rabbitte hadn't supported the rezoning with the lobbyist's earlier statement that "to my knowledge Mr Rabbitte never voted for anything I was promoting".

"Any donations received by my campaign in 1992 (or in any other election campaign) were decided on after the election by myself and by constituency officers [ in Democratic Left]. In this case, Mr Dunlop made an unsolicited donation in 1992 which was duly returned by cheque for record purposes and that cheque was cashed by him."

Mr Rabbitte said he looked forward to giving his evidence at the earliest opportunity.