Gogarty rejects payment claim

Mr Michael Bailey bought Murphy group land in November 1989 for £568,000 less than he had offered five months previously, paying a "finder's fee" of £150,000 to Mr James Gogarty, it was claimed at the Flood Tribunal yesterday.

Cross-examining Mr Gogarty on behalf of the Murphy group, Mr Garrett Cooney SC said the original proposal from property developer Mr Michael Bailey was that he and the Murphy group share ownership and secure planning permission, thereby considerably enhancing the value of the lands.

This proposal was contained in a letter from Mr Bailey to Mr Gogarty addressed to the Murphy group headquarters in Santry, dated June 8th, 1989. An alternative proposal contained in the letter was that Mr Bailey buy out the Murphy group for a total of £2,868,000.

However, Mr Cooney said that by July of that year, after meetings with Mr Gogarty, Mr Bailey reduced his bid to £2,000,006 for the lands, eventually rising to the final sale price of £2.3 million in November 1989.

Mr Cooney also suggested handwritten notes on Mr Bailey's June 8th letter had been made when it was in Mr Gogarty's possession, in the months before the sale, during negotiations with Mr Gogarty for the sale of the Murphy group lands.

Mr Gogarty rejected this version of events and said the handwritten notes, which relate to possible purchase prices, must have been written by Mr Bailey on June 8th, the day the letter was delivered to the Murphy group headquarters in Santry.

He also denied that he had been given a finder's fee of £150,000 by Mr Bailey for bringing the sale of the lands to his attention.

Mr Cooney asked when on June 8th, after he delivered the letter, could Mr Bailey have written upon it.

Mr Gogarty replied that Mr Bailey must have written on it on the morning of June 8th, sometime before he [Mr Gogarty] arrived at Santry.

Mr Cooney asked why Mr Gogarty had not said this when he originally described the events of June 8th.

Mr Gogarty said it was possible he omitted it.