A CLAIM that a Dublin business man was offered £4,000 to get rid of travellers camped in Bantry in September 1994 was made at Skibbereen Circuit Court on Monday.
"Some effort must be made to find out who these people are, Judge Patrick Moran remarked. "They must be brought before some court".
For the first time specific accusations relating to the identity of the people responsible for hiring the gang of 12 vigilantes from Dublin was heard in open court.
As a result the State Solicitor, Mr Malachy Boohig, was granted an adjournment so the Garda could investigate the new allegations.
Redge Brogan, of BeaufortDowns, Grange Road, Rathfarnham, who runs the Shift and Lift company, and his son, Gary, were in court to appeal against the severity of jail sentences imposed by Bantry District Court.
Brogan had not been present when Judge Brendan Wallace convicted him of damaging caravans and imposed a prison sentence. However, when he came before the Circuit Court for the appeal he claimed he had been asked to identify the man who engaged him to do the "assignment".
He told the court that a "Mr Davis", who claimed to be a Cork County Council employee, had hired him to do the job. And he also alleged that Dublin County Council had used his company on a regular basis to "shift" travellers.
On the morning of the attack, he said, he had met Mr Davis outside Bantry Garda station and Mr Davis had handed him £1,000 in cash. He said Davis then walked with him as far as the travellers encampment at Reenrour, but left before gardai arrived.
During the attack on the travellers, it was alleged, one of the gang drove a forklift at a woman with a baby in her arms, and that a number of the caravans were hoisted and dropped to the ground, damaging their structures and contents.
In his evidence Redge Brogan remarked: "It is obvious there were people in Bantry, I doubt if it's one person, who tried to take the law into their own hands." He said he was "sorry for what happened" and that he was willing to help the gardai search for the person who arranged it.
Brogan also informed the court that he had £2,000 and was prepared to pay £5,000 in compensation to the travellers.
However, the case against both, Redge Brogan and Gary Brogan adjourned to allow time for further investigations.