I've never asked for donations - Ahern

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has never personally asked anyone for a donation during his 27 years in politics, he said today.

Mr Ahern said he had signed his name to letters inviting donations for his Fianna Fáil party from various bodies, but he had never asked anyone for a political payment.

The Taoiseach told the Mahon Tribunal into allegations of planning corruption he was unaware at the time that property developer Tom Gilmartin had given his former party colleague Padraig Flynn £50,000 in 1989.

Mr Ahern said he had no recollection of receiving a phone call in which Mr Gilmartin claimed he told him the payment had been made to the former Environment Minister. He said he only became aware of the payment almost 10 years later.

“I would not ask anyone for a donation for myself or the Fianna Fáil party,” he said.

“I have never done it in 27 years of politics and I would not have done it in that phone call,” he added.

Mr Ahern said that, although he had no memory of the phone call, he did accept he must have had telephone conversations with Mr Gilmartin.

He said he instructed the general secretary of Fianna Fáil to write to Mr Flynn to inquire whether he had received such a payment when it emerged the party did not receive the money in 1998.

John Gallagher, SC, for the inquiry, asked: “Did you or the party ever receive a reply to that letter?”

“No, we did not,” replied Mr Ahern.

Mr Gallagher asked: “Did you or the party ever receive the money?”

“No, we did not,” the Taoiseach replied.

Mr Flynn has admitted receiving the cheque, but claims he thought it was to be for just £5,000.

Mr Ahern denied he had been involved in a campaign to discredit Mr Gilmartin during a five-hour appearance in the witness box in Dublin Castle.

Hugh O’Neill SC, representing the developer, asked: “A decision was made to do a hatchet job on Mr Gilmartin. Is that fair?”

“No,” Mr Ahern replied.

Mr Ahern said he did not regard Mr Gilmartin as shifty, or his evidence as dishonest.

Mr O’Neill said Mr Ahern’s counsel, Conor Maguire, SC, described his client as shifty and dishonest and asked Mr Ahern if he wished to disassociate himself from those comments.

“I did not say those words and I would not say them,” Mr Ahern said.

Mr Ahern admitted he may have attended an informal chit-chat involving Mr Gilmartin and a number of government ministers in the Irish Parliament in February 1989, although he did not remember it.

However, he insisted Mr Gilmartin did not attend a formal cabinet meeting.

Mr Ahern said he objected to the term “meeting” and insisted dozens of informal chit-chats occurred in Leinster House every day.

“To be frank I would not recall a meeting like that and no cabinet colleague would,” he said.

“That would be something that happened all of the time,” he added.

Mr Gilmartin has claimed he was brought into Leinster House that day by former Fianna Fáil member Liam Lawlor and taken up to meet the then Taoiseach Charles Haughey and a number of ministers.

He said Mr Ahern, who was Labour Minister at the time, was present at the meeting along with a number of his cabinet colleagues, although only one - former Education Minister Mary O’Rourke – claims to remember it.

Mrs O’Rourke told the tribunal earlier this week she was certain Mr Ahern and other Fianna Fáil ministers at the time met Mr Gilmartin in Leinster House in 1989, although her recollection of the meeting differed from Mr Gilmartin’s account.

Mr Gallagher, for the inquiry, asked Mr Ahern if, on the balance of probabilities, following the testimony of Mr Gilmartin and Mrs O’Rourke, he would accept that the meeting did take place.

“You could not draw a probability from two opposites,” he said.

The tribunal was set up in 1997 to investigate the planning history of 726 acres of land in north Dublin.

It centres on allegations made by businessman and property developer Tom Gilmartin which implicate various members of Fianna Fáil party.

Mr Gilmartin was planning to build a major shopping centre at Quarryvale, Dublin at the time.

Judge Alan Mahon has the power to investigate all improper payments made to politicians in connection with the planning process.