Ray Burke has told the Flood Tribunal that allegations that he received a bag full of money from an unidentified man when he was Chairman of Dublin County Council are a fabrication. Taking the witness stand this afternoon, the former Communications Minister said that the allegations were a vicious demonstration of a personal grudge. He said that the man who made the allegations, former councillor Jim Geraghty, was a rejected, failed, one-term politician who blamed everyone for his failure except himself.
Earlier, Mr Geraghty told the Flood Tribunal that he saw a man give Ray Burke a bag of money at the former Minister's office in the County Council building. Describing himself as a lifelong member of Fianna Fáil, Mr Geraghty said that Mr Burke later threatened him for discussing the incident with another councillor. He told him that if he did it once more he would never stand on a Fianna Fáil ticket again.
Lawyers for Ray Burke dismissed Mr Geraghty's account as the greatest load of lies and fabrications. Mr Geraghty told the Tribunal that he was in Mr Burke's office one day in 1986 when a man came in carrying a sports bag. Mr Geraghty left but later returned. He saw the sports bag open on a table, it was full of bundles of £20 notes.
He said that he heard the man make some reference to the figure "60". He said it could have been 60,000. Mr Burke, who was then Chairman of the council, explained to Mr Geraghty that the money was a development levy. Mr Geraghty also described another occasion when a man came into Mr Burke's office with a plastic bag. Mr Geraghty said that he was not sure but the bag could have contained money. The man said to Mr Burke "Do you want to check that?". Ray Burke said "No, that's OK".
Mr Geraghty said that he believed Mr Burke was responsible for his non-selection as a candidate in the 1987 general election. "All of a sudden," he said, "I was out of favour." During cross-examination, Mr Geraghty denied he had a grudge and was out to "shaft" Mr Burke.
This afternoon, Mr Burke spent over five minutes listing the expenses that he used to incur as a politician between elections. He said that he would have bought drinks at Fianna Fail Cumainn meetings, for senior citizens, residents groups, ladies groups, journalists and sports clubs. He said that he had to buy mass cards and give sponsorship to golf outings and sponsored walks. There were charity auctions and from time to time, he would give "a few bob" to people who had fallen on hard times. The list is endless, he said, but that was a flavour. It was an expensive operation, he concluded.
The Tribunal heard that in 1989 Mr Burke received political donations worth £118,000. He was asked why it was that people were giving him such large sums of money, often in cash. In reply, he said that Fianna Fail had turned the country around and the business community very strongly wanted Fianna Fail to be re-elected in 1989.
