Mr Liam Lawlor today said a figure of IR£100,000 which he claimed in 2002 that he received from a British property company was a guesstimate prepared to meet a tribunal deadline.
The Former Fianna Fáil TD said he had no idea how much he was paid by Arlington Securities which was trying to develop a huge shopping centre on Bachelors Walk in Dublin in the late 1980s along with developer Mr Tom Gilmartin.
Today was Mr Lawlor's first day giving evidence under the Quarryvale/Arlington module. The Mahon tribunal believes Mr Lawlor received IR£35,000 from Mr Gilmartin and stg£35,000 from Arlington.
However, in 1998, Mr Lawlor told a Fianna Fáil inquiry he got a total of £10,000 from Mr Gilmartin. Two years later Mr Lawlor told the tribunal he got £100,000 from Arlington directly and £35,000 paid through Mr Gilmartin.
He apologised to the tribunal today for the confusion over the amount of money he had received from Arlington.
Mr Lawlor repeated his claim that the payments were political donations. This conflicts with evidence from Mr Gilmartin and a senior Arlington executive who told the tribunal the payment was for consultancy fees.
The tribunal also heard of Mr Lawlor's meeting with Mr Ted Dadley of Arlington Securities. According to Mr Lawlor, Mr Dadley offered to pay his election expenses following a meeting in London.
He said a statement from 1999 suggesting that Mr Gilmartin had proposed making political payments to him was wrong. He said the arrangement was only made with Mr Dadley.