Gilmartin 'may visit Leinster House' to settle meeting dispute
Mr Gilmartin told the inquiry yesterday he stands fully over his original testimony about the meeting, despite some apparent contradictions by former minister Mary O'Rourke in evidence earlier this week.
Under cross-examination by Liam Lawlor, Mr Gilmartin insisted his recollection of the meeting which was attended by up to seven members of the Fianna Fáil Cabinet remained the same.
Ms O'Rourke's account highlighted a major difference about the supposed location of the meeting within Leinster House. Mr Gilmartin maintains it took place on the fifth floor of the building, while Ms O'Rourke said she was "very sure" it was held on the first floor.
"The meeting took place as you well know. You took me there and you know which floor we were on," he told Mr Lawlor.
Tribunal chairman, Judge Alan Mahon, said they were looking into obtaining a map of Leinster House from the Office of Public Works.
"If the room remains the same, I will identify it," said Mr Gilmartin. He suggested Ms O'Rourke had confused some details of what had happened.
However, he rejected Mr Lawlor's claim that based on her evidence, there were two separate meetings.
Mr Gilmartin said: "I know exactly where I was." He told the inquiry he could "paint the room", if he could describe its layout to a graphic designer.
However, Mr Lawlor argued that the "seriously contradictory evidence" by his former party colleague presented the tribunal with "a dilemma".
Mr Gilmartin told Mr Lawlor he could put up whatever smokescreen he liked but it wouldn't get over the fact that he (Lawlor) had organised the meeting.
Meanwhile, Mr Lawlor argued that the developer's plans for a major shopping centre at Quarryvale could never have succeeded because he did not have "a bull's notion" about Irish planning laws.
He claimed the businessman had instead sought to blame everyone else but himself for the failure of the project as well as making allegations of being blackmailed and held to ransom.
"You tried to drive a coach-and-four through planning guidelines and laws," said Mr Lawlor.
"You were trying to jump on the front horse," retorted Mr Gilmartin later.
In other evidence, the property developer said he had properly treated a £50,000 payment he made to the former minister, Padraig Flynn in June 1989 as a political donation in his tax returns to the UK Inland Revenue.
Mr Gilmartin described Mr Lawlor's claims that the payment was a bribe as "a damned lie".
