Flynn denies hushing corruption allegations

Former minister Mr Pádraig Flynn has rejected a claim that he tried to keep secret allegations of planning corruption made by developer Mr Tom Gilmartin and others.

Lawyers for Mr Flynn yesterday insisted he called in the gardaí immediately on being told by Dublin Corporation officials of Mr Gilmartin's allegations in March 1989.

This followed a claim by Mr Tom Troy, the secretary of the Department of Environment at the time Mr Flynn was minister, that the politician wanted to keep the matter secret.

However, in his evidence yesterday, Mr Troy accepted that Mr Flynn was acting on advice from the Department of Justice.

In his statement, Mr Troy described how the Minister asked him not to tell anyone in the Department about the allegations and told him not to open a file on the matter.

Mr Flynn told him to keep the matter secret so people engaging in irregularities would not be alerted, Mr Troy alleged. Their managers could keep watch and, hopefully, discover those responsible, the Minister is alleged to have told his official.

Mr Troy pointed out that there was a protocol whereby the gardaí were called in whenever allegations of corruption were made in relation to civil servants, according to his statement.

Mr Flynn told him this was "all very well" but one of the complaints was against a person connected to the Custom House Docks Authority. There was "huge foreign investment" in the International Financial Services Centre.

Mr Troy told the Minister this was "all the more reason to do things by the book". However, the Minister did not accept this at the time.

According to the statement, Mr Flynn urged the Corporation officials, Mr Frank Feely and Mr Seán Haughey, to keep the matter secret and to watch out for irregularities.

In evidence, Mr Troy said he attended a number of meetings on the matter with the Minister, Mr Feely and Mr Haughey. He wasn't told the identity of the person making the allegations (Mr Gilmartin) until Mr Feely or Mr Haughey let it slip at a later meeting.

Mr Troy said everyone but him knew who was involved. He believed Mr Feely and Mr Haughey were uncomfortable with the fact that he had not been told the identity of the person and one of them let slip the name deliberately.

He described the atmosphere of the meeting as "curious" and said he had never experienced anything like it before. It felt "very strange and unreal". He believed the two officials were uncomfortable with the way the Minister was dealing with the matter.

Mr Troy said he was "absolutely certain" that the central point of the meeting was that he wanted the gardaí called in and Mr Flynn didn't.

Asked if he felt excluded by not knowing Mr Gilmartin's identity, Mr Troy said he wouldn't mind that but the problem was he was "half in, half out". He didn't tell anyone in the Department about the allegations, or open a file. However, he did make short cryptic notes of what was decided.

Mr Pat Moran, solicitor, for Mr Flynn, said his client was concerned that the details of the complaints would have become "common knowledge" in the Department or get back to the council, and that this would impede the Garda investigation.

Would this be a valid reason for keeping the matter confidential, he asked the witness.

Mr Troy said it would be "unprecedented" in the history of the Civil Service.

Mr Moran said the evidence showed clearly that Mr Flynn had already been to the Department of Justice in relation to Mr Gilmartin's complaints before he met Mr Feely and Mr Haughey in the presence of Mr Troy.

This was borne out by the notes Mr Feely took of the meeting and by the notes made by a Department of Justice official, Mr Des Matthews, of their respective meetings with Mr Flynn, he said.

Mr Moran said the witness was suggesting that Mr Flynn had tried to "sweep everything under the carpet" yet the evidence showed that he had been to the Department of Justice, and had set in train the Garda investigation aimed at "rooting out" the allegations described by Mr Gilmartin. Mr Troy said this didn't accord with the facts as he remembered them.

Counsel said the recollection of the witness was "problematic". He pointed to the advice Mr Flynn received from the Department of Justice, which had told him that any "premature confrontation" with George Redmond could be contrary to the interests of the Garda investigation.