You could buy an awful lot of sandwiches and drinks for the election canvassers with the £50,000 Tom Brennan gave to the former minister Ray Burke in December 1982. But that's what the money was given for, the builder insisted yesterday.
Alternatively, in those days you could have bought a few houses with this "enormous" sum of money, as Mr Pat Hanratty SC, for the tribunal, pointed out.
Tom Brennan is the man who told us last year he used to place bets with his own money and give the proceeds - a minimum of £50,000 - to his old buddy George Redmond, just out of friendship. So we shouldn't be surprised by this new evidence of his generosity to the Fianna Fail electoral machine.
But how could Fianna Fail have accessed the money? The payment went from Brennan's offshore account in Jersey to Burke's offshore account in the Isle of Man. Burke used the pseudonym "P.D. Burke" for the account and gave a relative's address in England. It was hardly a transparent transaction.
"What had an account for P.D. Burke in the Isle of Man to do with Fianna Fail?" Mr Hanratty asked. "That's his name - Patrick," Mr Brennan replied. Counsel: "Did you know him as Patrick?" Witness: "No, Ray. I thought he might have a family account." Mr Brennan said Fianna Fail was short of money and there were several elections during this period. But it is worth noting that when the money was paid in December 1982 no general election was pending and none was held until 1987.
All day, Mr Brennan threw up new defences to explain his denial last year that he had paid any money to Mr Burke: I wasn't asked (but you got two letters and a summons, Mr Hanratty replied). I couldn't remember (So why did you contact his solicitor in Jersey?). I'd have to see the documents (So why didn't you just tell the tribunal you had accounts in Jersey anyway?). The payments came from companies, not me personally (But you owned the company). It was a trust company (No it wasn't, at that stage.)
No wonder Mr Hanratty concluded that Mr Brennan's explanation that he made "political donations" to "Fianna Fail/Ray Burke" were "utterly and totally implausible".
"You are lying to the tribunal," Mr Hanratty declared.
pcullen@irish-times.ie