Tribunal hears of Burke's overseas accounts

The Flood Tribunal heard today how payments totalling £85,000 were paid to Mr Ray Burke’s former auctioneering firm from a company owned by builders Brennan and McGowan.

Mr Ray Burke and solicitor Mr Vincent Shannon at the Flood tribunal on Friday. Photograph: Matt Kavanagh.

A "substantial portion of money" - which was paid in flat monthly sums of £1,000 between 1975 and 1982 - was then transferred into various personal accounts held by Mr Burke.

In his fifth day of evidence to the tribunal Mr Burke said his company PJ Burke Sales Ltd had acted as estate agents for Kilnamanagh Estates - a Brennan & McGowan firm - and that the money represented fees.

"I worked hard for my fees," Mr Burke told the tribunal. He said the money was paid in discrete monthly amounts to facilitate the cashflow of the company.

He conceded a significant portion of the money ended up in his personal accounts with the Bank of Ireland.

Mr Burke had previously informed the Revenue Commissioners through his solicitors he had not been in receipt of an income from this company since 1977.

Today Mr Burke described the transfer of money from the company into his accounts as "director loans". Mr Burke’s company ceased trading in the middle of 1982.

Earlier, the tribunal heard evidence of more overseas bank accounts held in Mr Burke’s name in the 1970s. The accounts were held in the Bank of Ireland in Manchester and by Foster Finance Northern Ireland Ltd in Belfast.

Mr Burke had previously told the tribunal and the Dáil that he held no overseas accounts with the Bank of Ireland. When asked why he had not disclosed these accounts he said he had not recollected them at the time.

The tribunal also heard how Mr Burke held a joint account with his father Patrick Burke in the Whitehall branch of the Bank of Ireland in Dublin.

These accounts show that Mr Burke accumulated a sum of £37,000 between the years 1971 and 1977 despite earning a cumulative income of less than £30,000 over the years in question.