Payment to Ray Burke disguised

The Flood Tribunal has been told that a £60,000 payment made to Ray Burke in 1984 as a political donation, was disguised in a company account as fees for architects.

The payment was made to a Ray Burke offshore account in Jersey, from another company in the Channel Islands, controlled by builders Brennan and McGowan.

The tribunal has spent the afternoon grilling builder Tom Brennan about payments to Ray Burke.

Mr Burke received payments totalling £125,000 from companies controlled by Brennan and McGowan.

One such payment saw £60,000 transferred from an account called Cameo to a Ray Burke account called Caviar Ltd.

Correspondence presented to the tribunal shows that the money was disguised as architects’ fees.

Tom Brennan said he could not explain this.

He had earlier told the tribunal that he had given money to Mr Burke because he was a Fianna Fail supporter.

In earlier evidence, he said he never gave money to Mr Burke at all.