Deal was offered for dirt on Burke, says barrister

THE tribunal into planning corruption was itself accused of questionable practices yesterday after a barrister claimed he was offered a deal of leniency for his client if he helped dig the dirt on key witness, Ray Burke.

In a stinging attack on the tribunal, Dominick Hussey also claimed deadlines for producing information to the inquiry were deliberately set impossibly tight so that witnesses could not comply and could then be accused of non-cooperation and denied payment of their legal costs.

Mr Hussey represents Dublin estate agent John Finnegan who the tribunal concluded had deliberately given false information about his £10,000 contribution towards a £60,000 corrupt payment given to Ray Burke in 1984.

Mr Finnegan told the tribunal in 2001 that he knew nothing of the payment made by builders Tom Brennan and Joseph McGowan and thought the £10,000 he made available to them was being put into a fund for expenses relating to development land the three men jointly owned.

Applying to have Mr Finnegan’s legal bills paid by the State yesterday, Mr Hussey said he was approached in 2001 by the then senior lawyer for the tribunal, barrister Pat Hanratty, and told the tribunal would ease off his client in return for information on Mr Burke.

“Mr Hanratty said to me: ‘We will drop this peripheral s**t if you give us something on Burke,’” Mr Hussey said. “I have to say I was flabbergasted.”

Mr Hussey also said he had challenged another barrister for the tribunal, Patricia Dillon, about the Tribunal’s practice of making demands for supply of documents and other evidence with impossible deadlines for compliance.

He said he regularly returned from the Tribunal on a Friday afternoon to be met with a fresh demand for detailed information to be supplied by the following Tuesday or Wednesday.

He said he recognised this kind of behaviour as a ploy intended to ensure he “could not but be in default.” When he asked Ms Dillon if it had something to do with the eventual issue of costs, she replied: “Smart boy.”

Tribunal chairman, Judge Alan Mahon said Mr Hussey’s complaints related to an early period in the tribunal’s inquiries and he should have raised any issues he had at that time.