Morgan confirms giving €5k cheque to Gallagher

The businessman Hugh Morgan has admitted in a statement that he gave presidential candidate Sean Gallagher a €5,000 cheque for Fianna Fáil in June 2008, a few days before a party fundraiser.

The businessman, who received a suspended sentence in a Belfast court in the late 1990s for fuel smuggling and tax evasion, said Mr Gallagher had called to his business premises in Co Armagh to collect the cheque.

Mr Morgan, who now runs a company called Morgan Fuels Ireland Limited, said in his statement that Mr Gallagher had phoned him before he gave him the cheque, inviting him to a Fianna Fáil fundraising event and requested a donation.

Fianna Fáil has said today that it received a cheque for €5,000 from Mr Morgan dated June 26, 2008.

They went on to say that the cheque was lodged to the Fianna Fáil account on June 30, 2008, before the fundraising dinner which was held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Dundalk on July 1, 2008.

The party also admitted that Mr Morgan attended the fundraiser.

Mr Morgan's statement said: "I wish to clarify and set the record straight in relation to the dealings I had with Sean Gallagher which resulted in my attendance at a Fianna Fáil fundraiser in the Crown Plaza Hotel, Dundalk, on the 1st July 2008.

"Sean Gallagher, who I had never met previous to this, contacted me by phone. He first phoned me on the 6th June 2008 and invited me to attend the above fundraiser. In the course of the call he requested a donation of €5,000.00 for Fianna Fáil. He advised me that this type of fundraising would replace the annual Galway Tent Fundraiser. 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.

"He told me that the Taoiseach would give an update on the economy in the South which in his words was 'beginning to wobble'.

"On the 9th June he again phoned me to confirm my attendance . I confirmed that I would attend and was prepared to give the donation he requested. He left two mobile phone numbers for me to contact him on.

"On the 27th June Sean Gallagher visited my business premises at Killean, County Armagh. I wrote a cheque for €5,000 and gave it to him personally. I still have the stub of the cheque. This payment is declared in my company accounts and was cleared through my bank on the 1st July 2008.

"I then attended the fundraiser which was also attended by other businessmen from South Armagh, North Louth and across the Northeast. Sean Gallagher greeted the guests on arrival and directed us to the room at the top of the hotel where the fundraiser was held.

"Brian Cowen gave a speech on the economy and predicted a soft landing. At the end of the night Sean Gallagher introduced me to Brian Cowen and facilitated a photograph to be taken of myself and him. Approximately one week later Sean Gallagher called back to my business and gave me the photograph.

"It is a fact that approximately fourteen years ago I was convicted of tax evasion in relation to fuel smuggling in Northern Ireland. As a consequence to that, I have repaid the Exchequer and paid a substantial fine. I was never investigated by CAB or any other agency in the Republic.

"Since that time I have developed a successful international business known as Morgan Fuels.

"I employ over eighty people in Ireland, both North and South. I have business interests in Ireland , Britan and Europe and the Morgan Fuel card can be used up to 4,000 service stations in fourteen countries across Europe. I am also the official sponsor of the Armagh County teams of the GAA."