The Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, and his adviser, Mr Roy Dooney, had lunch with the controversial commentator, Mr Eoghan Harris, in the Longfield Hotel, Fitzwilliam Street, last Thursday.
This was revealed yesterday by the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey.
Mr Dempsey suggested that it would stretch credibility to the limit to believe the presidential campaign did not come up in their conversation. It was quite clear, he claimed, that Fine Gael was working out a strategy with Mr Harris who had earlier presented a three-page memo to Mr Derek Nally's campaign.
A spokesman for Mr Bruton acknowledged that he had had lunch with Mr Harris. They were friends for many years. They agreed, at the beginning of the lunch, not to discuss the campaign, conscious that they were "at different ends of it".
Mr Harris confirmed that he and Mr Bruton had agreed not to discuss the Presidency.
"It had nothing to do with ethics but the fact that I have no great belief in Banotti. I thought Gemma Hussey should be the candidate, not Banotti," he said.
Deploring the leaking of sensitive internal documents, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Andrews, said the work done by the Department had a vital role to play in informing the Government of developments related to the peace process and it was crucial that this work continued.
