Burke ordered to pay legal costs

Former government minister Ray Burke was today hit with a massive legal bill for more than €10m after he was found to have hindered the Planning Tribunal.

Judge Alan Mahon, chair of the inquiry, ruled that the former Fianna Fáil TD had consistently given misleading and false evidence to the tribunal.

He added that at times Mr Burke’s evidence and assistance was superficial and given to create an impression of cooperation.

Mr Burke was cited along with 15 other people who were found to have hindered or obstructed the tribunal set up in 1997 to examine allegations of corruption in the planning process over land in County Dublin.

Judge Mahon said: "I have no doubt whatsoever that Mr Burke knew full well that the evidence and information being disclosed by him and others to the tribunal was false and misleading.”

“There was at all times a legal obligation upon Mr Burke to cooperate with the Tribunal and to give truthful evidence in the course of its public hearings,” the judge said.

“Co-operation means a great deal more than merely providing documentation, obeying summonses to give evidence under oath and generally conducting oneself in a fashion which has the appearance of co-operation.

“Far more importantly, cooperation involves telling the truth.”

Mr Burke, who failed to attend today’s sitting, was said to be in financial difficulty but Judge Mahon added that the lack of assistance to the inquiry had left him with no option but to refuse the application for costs.

Both the Attorney General Rory Brady and outgoing Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy had argued that groups found to have adversely affected the work of the Tribunal should not be given costs.

Judge Mahon was due to make a second ruling on costs tomorrow. Builders Thomas Brennan and Joseph McGowan face legal bills of more than €2.5m if their application is rejected.

In the Tribunal’s second interim report in 2002, then chairman Mr Justice Feargus Flood found Mr Burke’s former home in north county Dublin was a corrupt payment from builder Tom Brennan and his associates.

The 60-year-old former politician was also found to have received corrupt payments totalling more than €235,000 between 1982 and 1985.

Judge Mahon ruled that findings from the previous modules, including corruption, should not impact on Mr Burke’s application.

“I believe that the degree of non-cooperation was so significant and so substantial as to warrant such consideration unnecessary,” Judge Mahon said.

He added Mr Burke’s legal team may have been used unwittingly as a conduit for false or misleading information.