Bailey says Gogarty got cash in Dublin hotel

Mr James Gogarty was given £50,000 in cash and two post-dated cheques worth £100,000 by Mr Michael Bailey and Mr Thomas Bailey…

Mr James Gogarty was given £50,000 in cash and two post-dated cheques worth £100,000 by Mr Michael Bailey and Mr Thomas Bailey, but he did not want the transaction recorded, the tribunal was told.

Mr Thomas Bailey said he and his brother gave Mr Gogarty the money in the foyer of the Royal Dublin Hotel in O'Connell Street and he understood it was a fee for finding the Murphy land for them to buy. Mr Bailey said his brother told him in August or September, 1989, that he had agreed to buy the land for £2.3 million and "Gogarty had to get £150,000 on top of that".

He recalled he went with Mr Michael Bailey to the Anglo-Irish Bank and collected a cheque for £50,000. They then went to the AIB in O'Connell Street and cashed it. They put the money in a briefcase and walked up to the hotel to meet Mr Gogarty. Mr Michael Bailey gave him the briefcase, which he thought also contained the two cheques, and said "That's what's agreed, Jim".

Mr John Gallagher SC, for the tribunal, asked him what he understood the money was for. Mr Bailey replied: "As far as I was concerned, he was an agent for the land, and it was his fee for finding the land for us." He did not know then that Mr Gogarty was employed by the Murphy Group.

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The two cheques, both for £50,000, were post-dated as security for Mr Gogarty for the balance of money due to him, he said. Mr Gogarty wanted the money in cash. The cheques were dated March 30th, 1990, and September 30th, 1990.

Mr Michael Bailey got the cheque dated March 1990 back from Mr Gogarty and tore it up. Asked if that £50,000 had been paid, Mr Bailey replied: "It had, yes. There was no way he [Gogarty] would have given it back until it was."

Mr Bailey said he remembered being in Mr Gogarty's house in 1996 and giving him money. His brother had asked him to go along to see Mr Gogarty's state of mind at the time. A total of £22,000 was given to him on that last day in the house. The rest had been given to him in dribs and drabs. They had asked him to return the September 1990 cheque, but Mr Gogarty said he could not find it.

"He [Gogarty] had talked about Murphys and he got into a rage, a temper, when Murphys' name was mentioned," he said.

Mr Gogarty also showed them pellet holes in the window which was downstairs in the front. "He was giving out about Murphys, making allegations that they had done this," Mr Bailey said.

Mr Thomas Bailey told the tribunal his brother told him in June 1989 that Mr Gogarty wanted to make a contribution to Fianna Fail or Mr Ray Burke.

Mr Bailey said the first time he met Mr Gogarty was when he arrived at a development site in north Co Dublin. His brother had said that they were going to Mr Burke's house.

"They went off in Mick's car, and as far as I was concerned they were going to Ray Burke's house," he said. Afterwards his brother told him Mr Gogarty had made a contribution to Mr Burke. He did not say how much.