The lobbyist and former government press secretary, Mr Frank Dunlop, returns to the Flood tribunal today for the first time since he revealed his sensational bribery allegations in April 2000.
Mr Dunlop, who has claimed he paid tens of thousands to Dublin councillors for their votes on rezoning motions, is scheduled to begin his evidence at 11 o'clock this morning.
He is expected to spend at least a week in the witness-box. Further appearances are expected next year for other modules of the tribunal's investigations.
Mr Dunlop's allegations have been denied by all the other parties involved. Lawyers for some of the councillors who feature in his allegations are expected to question him intensively about his claim that the money he paid was linked to rezoning votes.
Counsel for Councillor Liam Cosgrave, who is alleged to have received £15,000 from Mr Dunlop, has already described the lobbyist as dishonest, greedy, corrupt and a corrupting influence.
Since he first started co-operating over two years ago, Mr Dunlop has given the tribunal massive amounts of information about his involvement in lobbying councillors in Dublin in the 1990s.
However, his revelations about payments to former Fianna Fáil colleagues and members of Fine Gael have come at a personal and professional cost.
His firm, Frank Dunlop and Associates, has lost virtually all its clients during the past few years, and Mr Dunlop's health suffered.
