Former Fianna Fáil Press Secretary PJ Mara has denied seeking a payment of £30,000 from Century Radio at the Flood Tribunal today. Mr Mara has faced questions about allegations of a price list for broadcasting licences in the 1980s.
Mr Mara told the Tribunal that he had met with Oliver Barry in Dermot Desmond's office in 1990 to discuss the possibility of joining Century Radio as a consultant.
Lawyers for the Tribunal said that Century was effectively bankrupt at the time and asked why he would consider joining it. Mr Mara said that he believed Oliver Barry and James Stafford were well-connected men with deep pockets who could see the company through bad times.
James Stafford has claimed that Mr Barry told him there was a price list in operation for broadcast licences, which involved Ray Burke and PJ Mara.
He said that, some time later, Mr Barry told him that Mr Mara had been demanding £30,000 from them. He claimed that the meeting in Dermot Desmond's office was to discuss this payment which he refused to make.
Oliver Barry and Dermot Desmond have disagreed with Mr Stafford's testimony.
Mr Mara has also apologised for a delay in disclosing overseas bank accounts to the Tribunal. He told the Tribunal that he had forgotten about his overseas accounts when making a sworn statement to the Tribunal earlier this year.
Mr Mara swore an affidavit of discovery detailing his bank accounts to the Tribunal in January but did not include any overseas accounts. Appearing in the witness box today, he said that he had forgotten about them and then remembered that he had forgotten.
Details of some of these overseas accounts were only given to the Tribunal last Friday. Mr Mara apologised for the delay.
Patricia Dillon, Counsel for the Tribunal, pointed out that he had used one of the accounts in 1997. She wondered how he could have forgotten about it.
