At the Flood Tribunal the former Fianna Fáil minister Ray Burke has given his account of certain phone calls that took place between himself and the property developer Michael Bailey. The Tribunal is examining records of phone calls between Mr Bailey and Mr Burke, as well as Mr Gogarty and the Murphy Development Group. It is trying to establish the level of contact that existed between some of these people and what that contact was about.
The phone calls between Ray Burke and Michael Bailey, 25 in all, dominated today's proceedings. When Ray Burke took the stand this afternoon, he said that he had no memory of certain calls to and from his home between 1994 and 1997. He pointed out that he ran his constituency office from his home. He wasn't the only one using the phones and he said that Michael Bailey was around the local Fianna Fáil cumann at the time.
After June of 1997 however his memory was clearer. Mr Burke said that when he was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs Michael Bailey rang to congratulate him. A few months later when he resigned Mr Bailey rang again, this time to commiserate. They had a general human conversation, he said, and Michael Bailey said he was sorry for ever introducing James Gogarty into his life. Mr Burke said around this time stories about payments which named himself and Mr Bailey were appearing in the papers. They would have discussed this publicity, he said.
The Flood Tribunal heard conflicting accounts of why certain phone calls took place between the developer Michael Bailey and James Gogarty and The Murphy Development Group during a morning of allegations and denials. Michael Bailey was back to face more questions about those phone calls, in particular 45 phone calls between himself and James Gogarty. He said that many of these calls contradict evidence that James Gogarty has given that there was no contact between the two men for a number of years. Lawyers for Mr Gogarty said that that is not true, that Mr Gogarty was talking about face to face contact. Michael Bailey said that Mr Gogarty used to ring him looking for money. He also said that he was trying to resolve a dispute between Mr Gogarty and the Murphy group and that that is why those calls took place.
Lawyers for Mr Gogarty said that Mr Bailey wanted to resolve that dispute, because he did not want details of a payment he made to Ray Burke to get out. Not true, said Michael Bailey, he never made that payment. James Gogarty is due to appear at the Tribunal tomorrow. The Tribunal heard that he was too tired to appear today.
