Flynn and Gilmartin clash over £50,000 cheque

Significant differences have emerged between Mr Tom Gilmartin and Mr Pádraig Flynn over the circumstances surrounding the payment of a £50,000 cheque.

Mr Gilmartin gave the former minister the cheque in 1989, he says, for the Fianna Fáil party. He claims he was told making a "substantial donation" to the party would help "smooth" the way for a number of property developments he was involved in at the time.  Mr Flynn contests this version of events.

This afternoon at the Mahon tribunal, Mr Gilmartin clashed with Mr Bernard Madden, SC for Mr Flynn, over the payment of the cheque.

Mr Gilmartin insisted he wrote the cheque in Mr Flynn's Department of the Environment office in the Customs House during the first week of June, 1989. He said when he asked who to make it out to, Mr Flynn just gestured to the desk and said: "Leave it, just leave it on the desk".

The payee was later filled in as "Cash".

Mr Madden said Mr Flynn is adamant the cheque was given to him in Leinster House the previous month. He said the former EU Commissioner will tell the tribunal he initially thought the cheque was for £5,000 and was shocked when he realised it was for ten times that amount. He also maintains the money was for his own personal political expenses and he was a "no strings attached" payment.

Mr Flynn will say that when he realised the cheque was for £50,000, he told Mr Gilmartin "it was unnecessary and it could not, and would not, benefit him in any way", Mr Madden added. He will also say there was no question in Mr Gilmartin's mind the money was for anything other than political expenses,  because the developer felt Mr Flynn was a "straight and honourable person".

Mr Gilmartin denied this account. He insisted Mr Flynn knew all along the cheque was for £50,000 and said it was understood the payment was to curb the activities of a number of people who were demanding money from him, including Mr Liam Lawlor and George Redmond. "I decided to give Fianna Fáil a donation so that maybe I would get a level playing field," he said. However, he denied it was a bribe and insisted he would never bribe anyone.

Mr Gilmartin also claimed Mr Owen O'Callaghan was actively trying to destroy his prospects of building in Dublin. He alleged the Cork developer was using Mr Frank Dunlop to pay off councillors to ensure he would never get planning permission. "Dunlop was hired by O'Callaghan to screw me," he said.