The former Fianna Fáil fundraiser, Eoin Ryan Snr, has told the Moriarty tribunal that in 1996 he passed on a complaint from the businessman, Mark Kavanagh, to the leader of the party, Bertie Ahern. Mr Kavanagh had complained that he never got a receipt for a donation he had made to the party in 1989. Mr Ryan said once he had informed Mr Ahern he heard no more about the matter. The tribunal heard how Mr Ryan heard the complaint when he approached Mark Kavanagh looking for a contribution for the party. Eoin Ryan said doesn't remember ever being told exactly how much Mr Kavanagh had donated in 1989 and he didn't ask Mr Kavanagh. The tribunal heard in recent evidence that Mr Kavanagh gave £100,000 to Charles Haughey but only £25,000 reached Fianna Fáil. Eoin Ryan was asked if it was not unusual that he had never been told that Mark Kavanagh had later made a contribution of £50,000, directly to Bertie Ahern.
The Taoiseach will be recalled to give evidence to the Tribunal, either tomorrow or on Friday, about his knowledge of an internal Fianna Fáil inquiry in 1996 about the payment of £100,000 made to Charles Haughey by the property developer Mark Kavanagh. The Taoiseach may also be asked what he knows about the fact that up to last week vital documents concerning donations to Fianna Fáil had not been given to the Tribunal. The documents include a list of donations compiled by the former financial controller of the party, Mr Sean Fleming, TD, for which receipts were given to Mr Haughey rather than to the donors, at Mr Haughey's request. They also include background documentation which in some instances identifies the sources of substantial donations entered in the party books as anonymous. It is understood, however, that details of the list were given along with another one by Fianna Fáil to the separate Flood Tribunal last month.
In a very brief testimony this afternoon, Michael Smurfit said he gave £60,000 to Fianna Fáil the day before the general election in June of 1989. The money went into an Ansbacher account. £50,000 was to go to Fianna Fáil Central, and £10,000 to what he called Fianna Fáil East. The tribunal heard yesterday that the £50,000 did reach the Fianna Fáil purse, albeit in a circuitous way. The £10,000 does not appear to have been traced as yet. Michael Smurfit said he had not yet been able to review records regarding this donation, but he would so and he would pass the information on to the tribunal.
The TD Sean Fleming has told the Moriarty Tribunal that Fianna Fáil has only one list of donors to the party and not two as the Tribunal said yesterday. Returning to the witness stand this morning, Mr Fleming said what the Tribunal had described as a second list of party donations was in fact an extract of the main list. The Tribunal criticised Fianna Fáil yesterday for not handing over this second list, now called an extract, to the Tribunal until the story broke in the media late last week.
The Tribunal was late in starting this morning while its lawyers consulted with representatives from Fianna Fáil. When it did start, counsel for the Tribunal, John Coughlan, said that he wished to correct any erroneous information that he may have given yesterday. He said that Sean Fleming had had no hand act or part in giving Fianna Fáil documents to the tribunal. He then said he had been asked to clarify that Fianna Fáil kept just one list of party donors and not two. All donations were recorded in the cash receipts book and then there was an extract, without which the Tribunal would not have been able to identify all of the people referred to in the receipts book. This extract was only given to the Tribunal late last week. Mr Coughlan said that he thought he had been correct in describing this extract as a list.
