Gallagher ‘shell shocked’ by claims

SEAN GALLAGHER’S bid for the presidency was in disarray last night after the businessman changed his story three times in 24 hours about the collection of a €5,000 fundraising cheque for Fianna Fáil.

Dramatic claims and counter-claims hung over Mr Gallagher’s campaign regarding the role he played in raising the money for the intimate dinner with then taoiseach Brian Cowen in mid-2008.

Hugh Morgan gave the €5,000 to Fianna Fáil and last night claimed Mr Gallagher had personally visited his business in Killean, Co Armagh, ahead of the dinner and collected the cheque.

But Mr Gallagher called the claim a lie and insisted he had “absolutely not” met the businessman and convicted fuel smuggler before the corporate fundraiser in Dundalk, Co Louth.

Mr Gallagher had initially told Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness when questioned during RTÉ’s television debate on Monday that he never collected a cheque from Mr Morgan after the dinner.

Mr McGuinness said he had been contacted by Mr Morgan with the details.

Later during the debate, Mr Gallagher seemed to indicate that an envelope was given to him when he said that “if he [Mr Morgan] gave me the cheque, it was made out to Fianna Fáil headquarters and it was delivered”.

But in a dramatic U-turn yesterday, he fired back at Mr McGuinness and claimed that Sinn Féin had orchestrated a “military-type timebomb” slur against him.

He said he had “absolutely not” collected the €5,000 cheque from Mr Morgan. But the owner of Hugh Morgan Fuels claimed otherwise. In a statement, he said he was contacted by Mr Gallagher by phone, was invited to the dinner and asked for the donation.

“In return for the €5,000 donation I was promised a private audience with the taoiseach and I would get a photograph taken with him.”

Four days ahead of the July 1 Crown Plaza Hotel dinner, he claimed that Mr Gallagher visited him, adding: “On June 27 Sean Gallagher visited my business premises at Killean, Co Armagh. I wrote a cheque for €5,000 and gave it to him personally. I still have the stub of the cheque.”

Mr Gallagher now agrees that he asked potential donors for funds for Fianna Fáil. Last week though in a statement about the Fianna Fáil dinner, he categorically said that he had only asked business people he knew to attend and that he “sought no money”.

He now claims he never knew Mr Morgan or about his conviction for tax evasion for fuel smuggling in the North.

He told RTÉ last night he had been “shell shocked” when the original claim was made by Mr McGuinness that he had delivered the photo to Morgan after the dinner and asked for the cheque, and this was why he confused his answers.

He also denied he was the “bagman” for Fianna Fáil.

Fianna Fáil say the dinner raised under €100,000 but has refused to specify what exact role Mr Gallagher played, adding that Mr Morgan’s €5,000 cheque was dated June 26 and lodged to party accounts on June 30 that year. The party is refusing to say how it received the cheque.

Mr Gallagher says Mr Morgan’s statement “is completely at odds” with what he allegedly told Mr McGuinness before the debate.