TD explains 'pick-me-ups'

Mahon Tribunal: Fianna Fáil TD Seán Fleming has told the Mahon tribunal that the main advantage to donors who opted to pay off party bills under so-called pick-me-up arrangements, rather than making direct payments, was that such a mechanism provided confidentiality.

Mr Fleming, who was appointed financial controller of Fianna Fáil in 1982, said that some donors may not have wanted staff in their organisation to know that they were making a donation to a political party.

He said that the pick-me-up arrangement allowed such donors to route their payment to someone who had supplied goods or services to the party.

Giving evidence yesterday, Mr Fleming said that the then Fianna Fáil fund-raiser Des Richardson could have been the party's contact with Monarch Properties.

The tribunal heard that the development company had paid £15,000 in 1994 towards a marketing bill owed by Fianna Fáil to consultants Saatchi & Saatchi.

Mr Fleming said Fianna Fáil had serious debts after the 1992 general election.

He said that all major companies would have been written to by the party when it was seeking funds to clear these debts.

Mr Fleming said that over 95 per cent of income at the time came from direct donations to Fianna Fail headquarters, with around 5 per cent coming by way of pick-me-ups.

He defined pick-me-ups as a system whereby a third party would elect to pay a creditor of the party. He said that VAT was an issue between the donor and the creditor. He said Fianna Fáil was not registered for VAT.

Tribunal senior counsel Patricia Dillon said that in November 1998, Monarch had written to the Revenue Commissioners saying that the company had established from Des Richardson that it had made a payment of £15,000 to Saatchi & Saatchi.

Ms Dillon said that this letter suggested that the person dealing with Monarch on behalf of Fianna Fáil was Des Richardson.

Mr Fleming said that could well be the case.

Meanwhile, the Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Brian Lenihan, has said he received three political donations from Monarch and from Dunloe Ewart, which subsequently took over the lands at Cherrywood.

Mr Lenihan said yesterday that he had never been a local authority member and had had no involvement with the Cherrywood lands at any time.

He said that Philip Monaghan, a senior executive of Monarch, was a neighbour and that the company had provided a donation of £1,000 when he first ran for the Dáil in a byelection in 1996.

He said that he had received £500 towards a golf classic in 1997 and £300 from Dunloe Ewart in 1999.

Mr Lenihan said that he had never been ask to make representations to anyone else in relation to land rezoning.