By most people's standards - though not perhaps by those of chief executives in other multimillion pound companies - Mr James Gogarty's retirement terms were generous.
The total settlement agreed in late 1989 with his employers, Joseph Murphy Structural Engineering, amounted to £737,500. This included a lump sum of £300,000 for his pension and £215,000 commission earned for his work in increasing JMSE's income from its work on the Moneypoint generating station in Co Clare.
Also, there was the £70,000 deposited by Mr Joseph Murphy snr in a trust fund on the Isle of Man, a consultant's salary of £23,500 a year for five years and a Ford Scorpio car worth £35,000.
But Mr Gogarty had to fight hard to extract this agreement from his employers of 20 years, to judge by his evidence at the planning tribunal yesterday.
After years of contention, the then 72-year-old former JMSE chief executive appeared to have reached agreement on his pension on October 3rd, 1989.
The agreement was signed by Mr Gogarty and the JMSE financial controller, Mr Roger Copsey, in the presence of solicitors for Mr Gogarty and the firm.
Mr Copsey had previously claimed that for tax reasons the company could not afford to provide the lump sum, Mr Gogarty said last week.
He also attempted unsuccessfully to make a deal conditional on Mr Gogarty signing an affidavit in support of Mr Murphy in an unfair dismissals case.
Then, two weeks after the agreement he himself signed, Mr Copsey dropped another bombshell; the deal would have to be approved by Guernsey-based Mr Murphy.
Mr Gogarty, concerned that his former employer might be restructured and that he would never see his money, instructed his solicitor to warn of court proceedings. But he also resorted to a less orthodox method to force the hand of the company.
On October 10th, a week after the pension agreement, the board of the ESB agreed to pay JMSE £700,000, including VAT, in final settlement of a £10.6 million contract at Moneypoint.
This amount, personally negotiated by Mr Gogarty, was far more than JMSE ever hoped to secure. It had already been agreed he could keep half of anything he negotiated over £130,000. Excluding VAT, this meant Mr Gogarty's share was worth £215,000.
But instead of allowing the payment to come into JMSE's offices in Santry in the normal way, Mr Gogarty followed the advice of his solicitor, Mr Gerard Sheedy, and had it sent to Mr Sheedy's offices in McCann Fitzgerald.
As Mr Gogarty put it yesterday, his concern that the company was "hedging" on his pension was tempered by relief that "for the first time, after all the years of anxiety, I had something.
"My pension, car, the whole bloody thing, didn't cost Murphy's a penny," he said.
On October 31st, Mr Sheedy revealed to Mr Copsey that he was in possession of the cheque. Three days later, Mr Murphy agreed to the settlement.
Even then, the money was not immediately forthcoming, as Mr Copsey said the payment would have to come from the ESB cheque which JMSE was seeking to recover.
After appearing unwell at the end of last week, Mr Gogarty was clearly back on form in the witness box yesterday. He even offered to continue giving evidence in the afternoon, an offer not taken up by the chairman or tribunal lawyers.
For the first time since he entered the witness box, he smiled. He was rereading his hand-written notes of 10 years ago. Amid all the references to work worries, there were personal notes, such as a reference to rain gear and rubber boots given to him by a colleague, Mr Frank Reynolds. "When I was in good form, I'd like to go fishing," he recalled.
The notebooks provide the foundation for Mr Gogarty's phenomenal recall of events long gone. He also kept notes and would write them up "every night or couple of nights", he said. "I could write a book from them," he remarked.
It appears from one note that the auctioneer handling the sale of JMSE's north Dublin lands was so thankful for Mr Gogarty's help that he offered him £10,000 from the £46,000 he was due from the sale.
However, the witness denies he either asked for this money or ever accepted it.
Mr Justice Flood will indicate this morning whether he is ready to make a ruling on the procedures to be followed for cross-examining Mr Gogarty.
The tribunal lawyers have suggested other witnesses be called to give evidence before the cross-examination of Mr Gogarty begins.
Lawyers for Mr Ray Burke, JMSE and Mr Bailey are opposed to this, and have indicated they may go to the High Court if the decision goes against them. Even if this happens, Mr Gogarty will finish giving his direct evidence, probably by the end of this week.