CRH chief ‘oblivious’ to Haughey ties

FORMER CRH chief executive Tony Barry told the Moriarty Tribunal yesterday he was oblivious of the financial relationship between the group’s deceased chairman, Des Traynor, and former Taoiseach Charles Haughey.

“I was never aware of it,” Mr Barry told tribunal lawyer John Coughlan SC.

“To my knowledge, no-one ever mentioned it — in that connection.”

An investigation found eight Cement Roadstone Holdings plc (CRH) directors or executives, including Mr Barry, had held Ansbacher offshore bank accounts at different stages. All had been arranged by Mr Traynor, who died suddenly 12 years ago.

Quizzing Mr Barry on whether he knew about the banking relationships between Mr Traynor and his own colleagues, Mr Coughlan said to suggest there was no collective knowledge in CRH about it was incredible.

Mr Barry said: “I can understand how a third party looking in might wonder at that. But, in my experience, I certainly had no awareness of the relationships in their private matters that any other board members had with Mr Traynor.

“And, indeed, in my experience of boards going way beyond the reach of CRH, I have never once discussed with any other board director what their personal banking arrangements were.”

The tribunal is investigating whether any link existed between the sale of 145 acres of State lands, containing sand and gravel deposits, at Glen Ding, Blesssington, Co Wicklow, to Roadstone Dublin, owned by CRH, and payments to Mr Haughey. The company paid £1.25 million (€1.58m).

In 1990, Mr Barry brought forward the Glen Ding proposal to the acquisitions committee of Roadstone Dublin Ltd — which Mr Traynor also chaired.

Mr Barry explained his Ansbacher account arose in 1989 when he wanted to assist two of his children then living abroad.

He wanted to use foreign currency income he was receiving in dividends and expenses and Mr Traynor offered to arrange matters.

Mr Barry estimated the total lodged with Mr Traynor until his death in 1994 at between Stg£50,000 (€73,000) and Stg£55,000 (€81,000).

Those lodgements were either given to Mr Traynor personally or sent to him through internal Roadstone mail to the chairman’s office in Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin.

Notes on unheaded paper indicated the balance would be sent from Mr Traynor’s office to Mr Barry’s office, which was in Belgard Road, Tallaght.

As far as Mr Barry was concerned at the time, Mr Traynor was doing him a favour in facilitating him in a personal and informal way. It never occurred to him any other CRH executive or director had a banking relationship with Mr Traynor.

At the time, Mr Barry would have regarded Mr Traynor as a very proper person, a man of high repute and integrity and it never occurred to him Mr Traynor would have been using the CRH premises in an inappropriate way.

Mr Justice Moriarty said yesterday he might make a personal visit to the Blessington site if he considered it could help him in the tribunal’s current examination.

The tribunal adjourned without setting a resumption date.