A former Fine Gael councillor has gone on trial for allegedly taking €80,000 in corrupt payments from a property developer.
Fred Forsey Junior, aged 42, from Abbeyside, Dungarvan, Co Waterford, is pleading not guilty to the six counts.
His trial before a jury of eight men and four women started at Waterford Circuit Court today and could last up to six weeks.
The former Dungarvan town councillor and driving instructor is denying receiving corrupt payments of €60,000, €10,000 and €10,000 from a property developer in 2006.
The developer cannot be named for legal reasons.
The payments are alleged to have been made as an inducement or reward to Mr Forsey to use his position on Dungarvan Town Council to make representations to officials and members of the county council in support of a planning application made by the developer's company.
The payments were also allegedly a reward or inducement for him to speak at a meeting of the town council in support of the development, and propose a motion to extend the Dungarvan town boundary to encompass the lands involved in the application.
In opening the case, Denis Vaughan-Buckley senior counsel for the prosecution said the Forseys went on a family holiday to Rome in August of 2006 on the date of the first alleged corrupt payment to Mr Forsey of €60,000. The court heard he told his wife the developer had paid him €30,000.
He said Fred and Jenny Forsey split up in October 2006.
The first witness in the prosecution case was local Fine Gael TD John Deasy, who said he was approached in the summer of 2006 by the property developer in Merry's pub in Dungarvan, Mr Deasy's local. He said he was asked to support the rezoning of lands outside of Dungarvan.
He said that in September 2006 Mr Forsey, then a town councillor, called him to arrange a meeting, which took place in a cafe on the quay in Dungarvan.
He told the court the meeting was specifically to do with lands for rezoning, with Mr Forsey putting to him that hundreds of jobs could be created if the lands around a mile outside of Dungarvan were rezoned for industrial use.
Mr Deasy told the court he did not back the proposals as very few if any specifics came back to him when he asked for them and that ,in his opinion, there was no substance to the claim that hundreds of jobs would be created.
In April 2007, Jenny Forsey approached him, Mr Deasy told the court.
Jenny Forsey had been married to the accused but was then separated.
Following the conversation, Mr Deasy went to the gardaí and advised Mrs Forsey to do the same, which she did, and a meeting with the gardaí was arranged.
Under cross-examination, Mr Deasy said that it was his opinion, and that it is still his opinion, that the reason (for the attempt at rezoning) was to inflate the price of the land.
Mr Deasy said he was not aware in 2007 that Mr Forsey was, according to defending Senior Counsel John Phelan, residing with another lady although he knew there were differences in the marriage. Mr Deasy said Mrs Forsey did not make any comment about her marital status.
When he heard later he was due to move to Australia, Mr Deasy asked Mr Forsey to relinquish his seat on Dungarvan Town Council.
Mr Phelan put it to the TD that he rang Mr Forsey, saying if he was him, he would not ever come back to Ireland and wishing him a good life.
Mr Deasy said this was not his recollection.
He agreed that Fred Forsey was a good councillor and that he did not feel his own position was in jeopardy from him.
The court was also told that other witnesses due to be called include the other Fine Gael TD in Waterford, Paudie Coffey, bank officials, officers from Waterford County Council and others.
The trial continues tomorrow.
