At the Mahon Tribunal, Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern says he accepted a £3,000 donation from Dundalk developer Phil Monahan who was 'very complimentary' about restrictions introduced on cross-border trade.
However, Mr Ahern told tribunal that he had never heard of a controversial development in Cherrywood, south Dublin when he accepted the money for the 1989 General Election.
He said that the 48-hour rule stopped huge queues of shoppers going to Newry and Mr Monahan, who owned the Dundalk shopping centre, had been very complimentary about the measure brought in by a Fianna Fáil finance minister.
The tribunal heard that Mr Monahan also made a £16,000 donation to the Fianna Fail party three days later.
Mr Ahern said his own donation was forwarded to his local constituency to be shared between the three candidates.
Dunlop says he gave Lawlor £100,000
Earlier at the tribunal, the lobbyist Frank Dunlop said he paid the late Liam Lawlor over £100,000 in fees for introductions to developers.
But he denied an accusation by counsel for the Mahon Tribunal that he had told a 'tissue of lies' about how he got involved in the Cherrywood development in south Dublin.
Mr Dunlop told the tribunal that Mr Lawlor was 'always looking for money' for setting up meetings with people who wanted to get rezonings in Dublin.
And payments to Mr Lawlor concerning a number of different developments over the years amounted to over £100,000.
But he said Mr Lawlor had not asked for any money for introducing him to Monarch Properties concerning the Cherrywood development in south Dublin.
And he denied an accusation by tribunal counsel Henry Murphy SC that he told blatant lies about meetings he had with a Monarch executive.
But Mr Dunlop admitted he had been 'incorrect' when he told the inquiry in private session that the late Liam Lawlor had attended an initial meeting with Monarch executive Eddie Sweeney in March 1993.
He also admitted he had been inconsistent about whether it was Mr Sweeney or Mr Lawlor who set up the meeting.
Mr Dunlop acted for Monarch for two years as the company tried to get the go-ahead for a massive development at Cherrywood.
He has claimed that Mr Sweeney and another Monarch executive knew that bribes would have to be paid to councillors to get rezoning for Cherrywood.
