At the Flood Tribunal, Ray Burke has been giving his account of payments he received from businessmen during the ‘80s. They include two donations, totalling £110,000, raised by the builder, Joe McGowan. The public examination of Ray Burke's financial records began today despite attempts by his lawyers yesterday to stop it. It will include money he declared in the tax amnesty. the Chairman said that they had to do it in public because Mr Burke had told them privately it was “none of their business”. Mr Burke said that he built up a political fund of well over a quarter of a million pounds over 20 years. He said that he needed it for election expenses and other political activities.
In December 1982 £50,000 was lodged to a bank account in the Isle of Man by the builder Joe McGowan. Mr Burke said that it was the proceeds of fund raising events, but he did not ask for and was not given the details. In 1984 the Brennan and McGowan group lodged another £60,000 to a bank in Jersey.
Tribunal lawyers said that the first lodgement alone was enough to fight ten general elections, why did he need so much? He said that party head quarters was not the fairy godmother people thought it was. They would send a few posters of the party leader but little more. They also asked why the money was kept in off shore accounts. Mr Burke said that this was for confidentiality and he could not explain it further.
Smaller lodgement totalling £22,000 could not be accounted for today. Mr Burke has given the Tribunal a list of regular donors but he could not say who gave what. Ray Burke gave his account of a payment of £35,000 that he received from the concert promoter in 1989. Mr Burke’s account differs from Mr Barry's account in a number of crucial details. Mr Burke maintains that the payment was a personal donation from Mr Barry and not from Century Radio as Mr Barry has asserted. Several months earlier Ray Burke, as Minister for Communications, had substantially reduced the fee Century's rival, RTÉ, could charge the new station for transmission facilities. During questioning Ray Burke said that he saw nothing wrong with receiving such a large donation from Oliver Barry without issuing a receipt, when he as a minister he was arbitrating in a dispute over those fees between Century and RTÉ. He agreed that there would have been a furore if the payment had come to the attention of RTÉ.
Ray Burke says that he does not remember asking that the payment be in cash. Oliver Barry says that he did. Mr Burke says that the money was for general election expenses. The election of that year 1989 had come upon them suddenly, Mr Burke said. Before lunch the former minister said that he was not surprised when Oliver Barry gave him such a large payment all in cash. Cash donations were normal during an election. After lunch however he said that he had been surprised that it was in cash. "It was an extraordinary election in 1989,” he said, “extraordinary in its timing and extraordinary in the size of the donations."
Earlier, the Chairman of the Flood Tribunal said that he will be investigating, in public session, the source of money which was declared by Ray Burke during the tax amnesty. Despite objections from Mr Burke's lawyers, Mr Justice Flood said that he had been left with no option but to examine the matter in public because Ray Burke had not helped their private inquiries. This morning the former minister was asked to explain several payments he received, including £50,000 that was lodged to an offshore account in 1982.
Mr Justice Flood rejected a submission by Ray Burke that the Tribunal has overstepped its terms of reference. In a ruling delivered this morning, Mr Justice Flood said that he rejected what he called "unfounded" assertions of bias against Mr Burke. He added that there was absolutely no basis of any kind whatsoever for the suggestion. Mr Justice Flood said that he was satisfied that the matters the Tribunal was investigating were properly the source of their inquiries and that the evidence in relation to them was admissible. He said that he was satisfied that the rules of fair procedure had not been infringed. Mr Justice Flood said that the Oireachtas had given him a mandate to discharge and he intended to discharge it. He said that he would not be deflected from that task by unfounded assertions of bias on his part.
