Eight-year gap before FF acted on Flynn payment

It took Fianna Fáil eight years to ask former minister Mr Pádraig Flynn about the £50,000 he got from Mr Tom Gilmartin from the time the developer gave details to a senior party official, the tribunal has heard.Gilmartin paid out £50,000Mahon Tribunal

Mr Gilmartin told the party's national organiser, Mr Seán Sherwin, about the payment in October 1990, but it was not until 1998 that the party wrote to Mr Flynn seeking details of the payment.

Giving evidence yesterday, Mr Sherwin defended his handling of the information given to him by Mr Gilmartin during their meeting. Mr Sherwin explained that he did not believe Mr Gilmartin at the time.

He passed the information on to the party's main fundraiser, Mr Paul Kavanagh, and when Mr Kavanagh informed him that Fianna Fáil had not received the money, he said he believed Mr Gilmartin even less.

It has since emerged that Mr Gilmartin did make the payment, which he says was meant for the party, to Mr Flynn in May/June 1989. However, Mr Flynn, who says the developer gave him the money for his personal political use, never passed it on.

According to Mr Sherwin, he assumed the money was given to Mr Flynn for Fianna Fáil. Mr Flynn was joint party treasurer at the time.

Asked about his reaction when told about the Flynn payment, Mr Sherwin said he was "in disbelief". He did not think it was true and resolved to find out if it was.

The amount involved was very significant and very unusual by the standards of the time. He could not make out whether Mr Gilmartin was giving him this information in a truthful way.

He said he brought Mr Gilmartin's information to the attention of Mr Kavanagh. "I felt it was his job to find out whether the money had come to Fianna Fáil".

When Mr Kavanagh later told him the money had not, Mr Sherwin said his disbelief increased. He was certain now the donation hadn't been made.

Asked by Mr John Gallagher SC, for the tribunal, why he had not approached Mr Flynn directly, the witness said he believed Mr Kavanagh was the appropriate person to deal with the matter. He knew Mr Kavanagh would go to members of the party's fundraising committee, to its accountant Mr Seán Fleming and to the leader of the party, Mr Charles Haughey, as part of his investigations. He was satisfied that Mr Kavanagh had done all this. Asked why he had not gone to anyone else, Mr Sherwin said he did not want to be guilty of "spreading scandal".

In outlining the difficulties he was facing with his projects, Mr Gilmartin had also told him about Mr Lawlor's involvement as a consultant, for a monthly fee of £3-4,000, in the Bachelor's Walk development. He had also related how Mr Lawlor "gatecrashed" a business meeting in London.

He was very surprised to hear that Mr Lawlor was the politician rendering his services as he represented the west of Dublin and this project was in the inner city. "There are lots of politicians who are engaged in matters relative to their skills," he explained.

Mr Gilmartin also told him a Fianna Fáil councillor Mr Finbarr Hanrahan had looked for £100,000 in return for his help on Quarryvale, but that he hadn't paid this money. Mr Sherwin said he was "astounded" and "horrified" that anyone should make such a demand. In 1999, he spoke to Mr Hanrahan, who denied the allegation.

Mr Gallagher pointed out that the witness had waited nine years before going to Mr Hanrahan. If true, this was a grievous and shocking allegation, but what had Mr Sherwin done about it? Had he gone to the gardaí? Mr Sherwin replied that he had not.

He said he contacted Mr Gilmartin in Luton and arranged to meet him in Dublin about a week after their first meeting. At the time, an American businessman who was involved in the refinancing of Larry Goodman's beef business, Mr Edmond McMullan, was in Dublin and he wanted Mr Gilmartin to meet him.

Judge Alan Mahon asked why Mr Sherwin would want to help someone who he felt was telling lies.

Mr Sherwin replied by asking whether it was a sin to help someone, even though he was not "in belief" about what Mr Gilmartin was saying. It would have been "unchristian" to the developer not to help.