MacSharry may have met Gilmartin

Mahon Tribunal: Former EU commissioner Mr Ray MacSharry has become the latest former Fianna Fáil Minister to change his position in relation to contacts with developer Mr Tom Gilmartin.

Mr MacSharry originally told the tribunal in a statement he had no contact with Mr Gilmartin.

However, in his evidence yesterday he conceded it was "possible" he may have met his fellow Sligoman in his constituency clinic, as Mr Gilmartin has claimed.

He denied, however, having any dealings with Mr Gilmartin in relation to zoning or the planning history of Quarryvale.

A Sligo teacher, Mr Pádraig Leonard, had earlier given evidence yesterday about meeting Mr MacSharry together with Mr Gilmartin in the politician's clinic in Sligo in the late 1980s.

Asked whether he disputed Mr Leonard's evidence, Mr MacSharry said between 150 and 200 people would visit his clinic on any given Saturday.

He had no recollection of either Mr Gilmartin or Mr Leonard being present there, but this was not impossible given the thousands of people who would go through his clinic in a year.

"It could have happened," he said, adding that he found it "rather odd" that Mr Leonard was saying Mr Gilmartin introduced him to the minister when Mr Gilmartin had said he was meeting him for the first time.

Asked if he kept records for his clinic, Mr MacSharry said "no house was big enough" to keep all the documentation he generated in 30 years of politics.

Mr MacSharry agreed he had helped to get Mr Gilmartin's home phone number on behalf of Mr Pádraig Flynn in August 1998.

Mr Flynn had contacted him on a Saturday to say certain matters were going to appear in a Sunday newspaper in relation to him (Mr Flynn) and Mr Gilmartin. Mr Flynn had not said what the matters were, but when the papers appeared he saw that it concerned a £50,000 payment by Mr Gilmartin to Mr Flynn.

Asked if he had queried Mr Flynn about the payment, the witness said it was none of his business.

Mr MacSharry said he had no recollection of Mr Gilmartin contacting him by phone when he was EU Commissioner. Mr Gilmartin has said that after he told the Commissioner about a £5 million extortion demand he received after meeting ministers, the call with Mr MacSharry ended abruptly.

Mr MacSharry said this was incorrect. "I have no recollection of it, therefore I suggest it never happened."

Mr Leonard had earlier told the tribunal that he was fundraising for Grange vocational school, of which he was vice-principal, in the late 1980s. He met Mr Gilmartin, whose relative worked for the school, in the hope that as a wealthy businessman he might contribute to the project.

Mr Gilmartin had recommended that he go see Mr MacSharry. When he went to see the politician, he met Mr Gilmartin, who had also come to see the politician. "I was next in line and told him to go before me, but he insisted we go in together."

At the meeting, Mr Gilmartin introduced him to the politician, and explained Mr Leonard's purpose. He left before Mr Gilmartin talked to the minister.