Fine Gael has described as "dramatic and potentially damaging new information" the claim to the Mahon tribunal by broadcaster and journalist Eamon Dunphy that the property developer Owen O'Callaghan told him he had paid money to Bertie Ahern in the early 1990s. Stephen Collinsand Colm Keena.
The party's justice spokesman in the Seanad, Eugene Regan, said the testimony given by Mr Dunphy to the tribunal backed up the allegation that Mr O'Callaghan paid Mr Ahern for political favours and raised questions about the tax designation of a development site in Athlone in 1994.
He said Mr Dunphy's claim "further undermines the Taoiseach's already unbelievable explanation for the €300,000 worth of lodgements moving around his and his partner's accounts over a 20-month period in the early to mid-1990s.
"We now have a highly respected independent commentator and broadcaster, Eamon Dunphy, asserting that Owen O'Callaghan told him at a private dinner that: 'he [ Ahern] had been bought'; that 'he had taken money'; and that 'he had been taken care of' . . . The question still remains to be answered: where did the €300,000 come from? Eamon Dunphy's testimony points to one possible conclusion," Senator Regan said.
Mr Dunphy had been listed on the tribunal's website as a witness due to be called during the current Quarryvale module.
He met the tribunal's legal team to discuss contacts he had with Mr O'Callaghan in the 1990s during which, he said, Mr O'Callaghan made comments to him concerning Mr Ahern being "taken care of" in relation to a tax designation in Athlone. He later made a less detailed, formal statement to the tribunal.
Contacted yesterday, Mr Dunphy would not comment. A spokesman for the Taoiseach also declined to comment.
A spokesman for Mr O'Callaghan referred to Mr Dunphy's formal statement to the tribunal which says: "throughout my dealings with him I found Owen O'Callaghan to be patient, businesslike and honest. At no stage during our project did he suggest anything untoward or in any way intimate that we might use inducements to achieve our objectives."