The concert promoter, Oliver Barry, has told the Flood Tribunal that he paid the former Fianna Fáil Minister, Ray Burke, £35,000 in May 1989. Mr Barry said that it was a political donation. Before he began giving evidence, Mr Barry said that he wanted to make a brief comment. He said that he had not appeared before the Tribunal last Thursday, because his solicitor had advised him it was not necessary. Mr Barry also thanked Mr Justice Flood for comments he made yesterday where he said that he was not attributing any impropriety to him. The concert promoter said that meant a lot to him and his family.
Mr Barry said he withdrew the £35,000 personally from the Bank of Ireland on 28 Lower O'Connell Street. The money was withdrawn from an account dedicated to the Frank Sinatra concert, which Mr Barry was promoting at the time. Mr Barry said that he could not remember what he had put the money in, but he said it would have fitted into a briefcase. He said did not count the money when he received it but brought it to Ray Burke in his office. Mr Burke told him the money would ensure a second seat for Fianna Fáil in North County Dublin. Mr Barry was asked if he got a receipt for the money. He replied "not at all". The concert promoter said that the payment was a political donation made in the middle of a general election campaign. He confirmed that it was the only payment of £35,000 he had made to Ray Burke. Mr Barry spent half an hour in the witness box. The Tribunal has adjourned until tomorrow morning.
In a separate development, the property company Bovale Developments, its director Tom Bailey, and his wife Caroline have been granted a High Court order stopping the Flood Tribunal probing their financial affairs. The Baileys have begun legal proceedings challenging the tribunal's right to question them in public about their financial affairs and demand a schedule of assets. In the High Court today Mr Justice Paul Carney granted the Baileys leave to judicially review the tribunal's decision. Pending the outcome of the High Court proceedings the Baileys cannot now be called to give evidence to the tribunal.
