A senior Fianna Fáil fundraiser told the Moriarty Tribunal that he did not inform the Tribunal of a meeting he had set up to raise money for Brian Lenihan's medical fund because he thought that the information would come out in due course. The Tribunal is trying to find out why it never heard of a donation of £25,000 from the property developer, Philip Monahan.
The fundraiser Roy Donovan is the third person to give evidence to the Tribunal about this donation of £25,000. Some of the money appears to have been used for the last of Brian Lenihan's medical bills. He arranged the meeting, which led to the donation. Tribunal lawyers asked Roy Donovan why, when the subject of donations to this medical fund had been the subject of the hottest controversy only last year, he had never told the Tribunal.
They pointed out that Bertie Ahern, the leader of the party of which he is a member, had said that Fianna Fáil would co-operate in every way with the Tribunal. Mr Donovan said that he felt other people, who were more directly involved, were in a better position to tell the Tribunal about it. He also said that he was appalled by a suggestion by Phillip Monahan yesterday that pressure was put on him to donate money to the party. He said that he personally never offered a political favour to anybody.
The Tribunal also heard from the businessman James Stafford, who explained his involvement with Feltrim Mining, a company set up Charles Haughey's son. Mr Stafford has only recently finished giving evidence at the Flood Tribunal and is the second person to have appeared before the two Tribunals. Mr Stafford told the Moriarty Tribunal that he became involved in Feltrim Mining after Emer Mulhearne, Charles Haughey's daughter, approached him in 1987. She told him that her brother was interested in setting up a mining company and asked him would he become involved.
Mr Stafford went on to draw up a prospectus for the company. He said that he could not help the Tribunal in identifying who the various shareholders of Feltrim Mining would have been, although he would have been involved in attracting them to the company. He said that the files relating to that time no longer existed. He agreed that he could have invested £40,000 in the floatation. Conor Haughey called this a loan, although James Stafford said that it would have been a subscription.
