Chairman extends deadline for submissions

Mr Justice Flood has given the legal parties in the James Gogarty module of the tribunal three weeks to make final written submissions.

The chairman warned that the deadline of November 21st was final and no further time would be allowed. A time for oral submissions would be fixed for December.

The tribunal has already set two deadlines for the submissions but neither has been met. Lawyers for the Murphy group, developers Mr Tom and Mr Michael Bailey, and the former Murphys executive, Mr James Gogarty, attended the tribunal yesterday to apologise for their failure to meet the deadlines and to ask for a further extension.

Mr Gogarty, who alleges he paid the former Fianna Fail minister Mr Ray Burke at least £30,000 on behalf of the Murphy group began giving evidence in January 1999. Evidence from other witnesses continued for the following 18 months.

All evidence in this module has now been heard, with the exception of some minor evidence from county councillors who voted to rezone land owned by the Murphy group.

Mr Justice Flood said the tribunal's request for written submissions had "an unfortunate history".

On April 3rd, the tribunal notified the parties of its intention to seek final submissions. On May 17th, the legal teams were informed of a deadline of June 14th for written submissions. This was later extended to July 17th.

Following applications by lawyers for at least three parties, this deadline was further extended to October 26th. This time had come and passed and no submissions had been furnished, Mr Justice Flood pointed out. "This time it's final," he said, in setting a new deadline of November 21st.

He warned that only parties who furnished written submissions would be allowed to make oral submissions in December. These would be allowed only for a "defined, definite period" not exceeding a half hour.

Mr Eamon Leahy SC, for the Baileys, apologised for not meeting the original deadlines.

He had "a long list of excuses, some good, some poor". Attempts to contact the tribunal were unsuccessful due to a phone fault.

Mr Michael Cush SC, for the Murphy group, also apologised. The task of compiling a submission was "enormous" but a considerable amount of work had been done.

Lawyers for Mr Gogarty and Mr George Redmond also apologised and requested a short extension.