The property developer Mr Mark Kavanagh told the tribunal he could not recollect why he had handed £100,000 to the former Taoiseach, Mr Charles Haughey, in the form he had, on general election day, June 15th, 1989; four separate amounts of £25,000, three of them drafts made out to cash.
"I don't recollect who made the arrangements," he told Mr Jerry Healy SC, for the tribunal, "but since Mr Haughey knew how the payments were to be used, I probably was told that he would explain it to me, but I don't remember."
"If someone had told you, it must have been Mr Haughey himself or someone under his direction," Mr Healy suggested. "If you say so," Mr Kavanagh said.
Mr Padraic Burke, who represented the McInerney Hillview interests in the Custom House Docks Development Company, recalled a meeting chaired by Mr Kavanagh on June 13th, at which the surprised partners were told: "This is the way they want the payment."
Mr Kavanagh said it was not the first time that he had met Mr Haughey, but it was the only time he had been to the former Taoiseach's house at Kinsealy.
He had never considered complaining to Fianna Fail that he had not received a receipt, between 1989 and 1996, when he was approached by a senior party figure, Mr Eoin Ryan snr, and again asked for a contribution.
He had conveyed his annoyance to Mr Ryan at not getting a receipt for the £100,000 which had been relayed to the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern. Mr Kavanagh made another £50,000 political contribution to Fianna Fail in 1996, after Mr Ryan's solicitation, through Hardwicke Ltd.
Mr Kavanagh was told that Fianna Fail had significant debts "of some millions", and the party was facing an expensive general election. It was looking to a number of people to make large contributions. At the same time it was seeking money for the Lenihan transplant fund. The party fund-raiser, Mr Paul Kavanagh, told him he thought he was doing well and could afford it.
He agreed to consider the request for £125,000 (£100,000 for the party and £25,000 for the Lenihan fund) and to talk to his partners. They decided to contribute £100,000. Central to this was the belief that Fianna Fail in government was crucial to the interests of the Custom House Docks Development Company.
"We had just won the contract for the development of the IFSC. Central to this involvement was the construction at full risk to us without prior commitment of five large buildings."
These buildings were all at a central stage of construction in May 1989, and Fianna Fail support for the project was seen to be crucial. Earlier, he had had lunch with Mr Alan Dukes and Mr Michael Noonan of Fine Gael and found that they were "lukewarm" on the subject of the IFSC. It was important to have continuity, and so the partners decided to support Fianna Fail.
Earlier, Mr Sean Fleming TD (Laois-Offaly) was told by Mr Justice Moriarty that "notification of a possible mishap" involving a category of receipts for party contributions marked "refer to An Taoiseach" and another sub-category of anonymous receipts "could well have been of interest to the tribunal".
Mr John Coughlan SC told him that as a result of the (Eoin Ryan) matter coming to the tribunal's attention, it was able within a week to locate the route of the £75,000 "that was supposed to go into Fianna Fail and did not".
It had also come across another amount equivalent to £60,000 sterling in Guinness Mahon Cayman Trust, London, "that had allegedly been routed to Fianna Fail". That had been news to him, replied Mr Fleming.