At the Flood Tribunal, the witness James Gogarty has denied that his only motive for giving evidence to the inquiry was to get revenge on his former employer. Mr Gogarty also disagreed with the contents of Garda statements relating to incidents of intimidation which he claims occurred at his home. The Tribunal was told that these incidents were a factor in Mr Gogarty's securing 24-hour Garda protection for the past 12 months.
This is the second day of cross-examination of the tribunal's key witness. There were angry exchanges at the tribunal yesterday when Mr Gogarty was presented with Garda documents that conflicted with his own version of events. Today, Gareth Cooney, council for Mr Gogarty's former employers, the Murphy group, read out the Garda reports relating to a number of incidents in Mr Gogarty's home.
In his affidavit to the tribunal Mr Gogarty said that shots were fired through his living-room window eight years ago. Today he said that the shots caused £2,000 worth of damage. Mr Cooney read a statement from the Garda who investigated the incident. It suggested that the damage was caused by a "marble-like object" hitting the window and creating two small holes, of between 1mm and 2mm wide. It found no evidence that a firearm was responsible. Mr Cooney put it to Mr Gogarty that he was inventing such an incident, to try and blacken Joseph Murphy junior's name. Mr Gogarty replied that he could not blacken Mr Murphy's name any more than Mr Murphy had already blackened it himself.
Mr Cooney also referred to another alleged incident in October 1994, when Mr Gogarty said that cars were vandalised in his driveway. Mr Cooney said that Howth Garda Station had no record of any complaint or any investigation. Mr Gogarty said that a Garda had come out to inspect the cars. Mr Cooney said that, from the Garda reports, it did not appear that Mr Gogarty required 24-hour protection. Mr Gogarty replied “well, why are they giving it to me then?”
