Friend says Gilmartin paid FF to chide bribe requesters

Mr Tom Gilmartin paid money to Fianna Fáil so that the party would "admonish or discipline" the people seeking bribes from him, the tribunal has been told.

Retired bank manager Mr Paul Sheeran said Mr Tom Gilmartin told him all his main allegations of planning corruption virtually as they happened in the late 1980s.

A long-time friend of Mr Gilmartin, Mr Sheeran said the developer told him about his payment to former minister Pádraig Flynn, his alleged meeting with Government ministers in Leinster House and a £5 million extortion demand which followed this meeting immediately after these events happened.

Mr Sheeran, who met the Luton-based developer when he managed a Bank of Ireland branch in England in the 1970s, said his friend also told him at the time about the demands for money made on him by councillors and a demand by former TD Mr Liam Lawlor for a share of the Quarryvale project.

He said he knew about the £50,000 payment to Mr Flynn in June 1989 almost as soon as the cheque was issued. Mr Gilmartin was facing enormous difficulties arising from the demands for money and felt he was being obstructed. He was led to believe that if he made a donation to Fianna Fáil, these problems would disappear.

"He felt that if he subscribed to party funds a senior government minister would assist in eliminating this. He was under the impression that the corrupt demands would cease," Mr Sheeran explained.

Mr Gilmartin's primary object in making the donation to Fianna Fáil was to ensure that the people putting obstacles in his way would be "admonished or disciplined or eliminated" by Fianna Fáil, he said.

The witness felt the amount paid was too much. He told him so but the payment had been made and it made no difference.

Asked if there was any suggestion it was a bribe, Mr Sheeran replied that he had known Mr Gilmartin for over 30 years since they met in Luton. "In all my time with him, the words bribery and corruption never entered his language or appeared until he came over here. Part of his difficulties was that he wouldn't pay bribes."

Mr Flynn had made it clear to the developer that there was no commitment to do anything for the payment, Mr Sheeran said. Mr Gilmartin understood this but believed the people causing him difficulties in dubious circumstances would be controlled and taken out of his way.

Mr Sheeran said his friend also told him about the claimed meeting with the Taoiseach, Mr Charles Haughey, and Cabinet ministers in Leinster House in 1989.

Mr Gilmartin told him about the meeting immediately after it happened, in the same terms as his evidence to the tribunal. The meeting was a casual one, not a formal Cabinet session, he understood.

Mr Sheeran said he had known "for years" about Mr Gilmartin's allegation that an unidentified man demanded £5 million from him after he emerged from the Leinster House meeting. Mr Gilmartin related how he told the man "you people make the Mafia look life monks". He told the man in colourful language to "buzz off", Mr Sheeran recalled.

Although the witness couldn't recall exactly when he heard this account, he said it "unquestionably" took place in 1989. Mr Gilmartin also told him the man pressed into his palm a piece of paper with the number of an Isle of Man bank account, but he never showed him this.

Mr Gilmartin told him that Mr Lawlor sought a 20-25 per cent stake in the Quarryvale project in return for assistance. The developer told him this practically after it happened, early on in the project.

He also told him about the Garda inquiry into his allegations, and his refusal to cooperate with this. Mr Sheeran felt his friend was wrong not to cooperate. He believed Mr Gilmartin may have decided that "the system" would take its revenge on him if he did cooperate.

Mr Sheeran said he was reluctant to name the councillors Mr Gilmartin said were demanding money from him, because his memory had become "contaminated" by what he had read since in the newspapers.

He did recall one demand for £100,000 from a county councillor who wanted payment in return for his assistance.