Brennan will deny being at meeting

The Minister for Transport, Mr Séamus Brennan, was not present at the claimed meeting between Mr Gilmartin and Government ministers in February 1989, his lawyers told the tribunal yesterday.

Mr Rory McCabe SC, for Mr Brennan, said his client would tell the tribunal he wasn't present at the meeting Mr Gilmartin said he had with the then Taoiseach, Mr Haughey, and his ministers in Leinster House.

Mr Brennan wasn't saying Mr Gilmartin hadn't met the Taoiseach or that the meeting hadn't taken place, Mr McCabe said. There was no way anyone had of proving the meeting did or didn't take place, as there was no video of the proceedings, no agenda and no papers.

They could all sit until Christmas and still wouldn't be able to establish whether the meeting took place, Mr McCabe said during his brief cross-examination of Mr Gilmartin.

According to Mr McCabe, Mr Brennan will say that all his dealings with Mr Gilmartin were in relation to the Bachelors Walk scheme.

He had no dealings with the developer concerning Quarryvale. Mr Brennan and his civil servants met Mr Gilmartin and representatives of his partner in the Bachelors Walk project, Arlington Securities, in September 1989.

Mr Brennan and the other ministers alleged to have attended the meeting are scheduled to give evidence next week.