An agreement on an outstanding payment of £700,000 to JMSE on contracts worth £10.7 million on the Moneypoint plant in Co Clare was subject to approval by both the Murphy and ESB boards.
In September 1989, there was correspondence concerning a settlement agreement on Mr Gogarty's pension. Mr John Gallagher SC, for the tribunal, asked Mr Gogarty if he was anxious to get an agreement. "Oh, God, very much so."
Mr Gallagher referred to a document dated September 29th, 1989, which was signed by Mr Gogarty and sent to Mr Maurice O'Sullivan, chief civil engineer at the ESB.
The letter referred to recent meetings about the final account for £10.7 million for contracts on Moneypoint. The total was £10,769,547. The balance due was £560,000 with VAT at 25 per cent, which came to £700,000.
Mr Gogarty said the circumstances in which he wrote that letter were that he was negotiating with the ESB. He had a team and he was liaising with Mr Frank Reynolds, a JMSE executive, and with Mr Joe Murphy snr.
He told Mr Murphy that they had reached agreement and asked him to call a full board meeting and to call Mr Roger Copsey, financial controller. "Senior said don't bother with that fellow; yourself and Frank can do it."
They felt they had reached agreement. The ESB was saying that if the Murphy board agreed it, then they should forward an invoice and Mr O'Sullivan would put it to the ESB board. "Frank Reynolds liaised with me all the way through until he got power," said Mr Gogarty.
Mr Gogarty said he told Mr Murphy snr everything that was in the letter and he [Mr Murphy] was delighted with it.
Mr Garrett Cooney SC, for JMSE, said this was an issue which would touch very closely on the credibility of the witness so there should not be any more leading questions.
Mr Gallagher asked Mr Gogarty what he told Mr Murphy. Mr Gogarty said he told him they had reached agreement, subject to the board agreeing, and told him the amount. Mr O'Sullivan was resigning or retiring very shortly and he was anxious to clear the matter up before he left.
"He [Mr Reynolds] said that he was talking to Senior too about it, the sum of money and while Senior was delighted with the sum of money, he didn't think I'd have got that money out of it, that he thought I'd get about £10,000, indicating that he [Mr Reynolds] was concerned that Senior begrudged me that money or didn't want to give me the full amount of it."