The Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, has rejected Fianna Fail suggestions that he behaved improperly on January 29th by telephoning a potential key witness to the Flood tribunal. In a statement yesterday Mr Bruton said he phoned Mr Tom Gilmartin only to confirm his belief that he had never met him. Mr Gilmartin backed up Mr Bruton's account of their conversation.
Mr Gilmartin has alleged that in 1989 he gave a cheque for £50,000 intended for the Fianna Fail party to Mr Padraig Flynn, then minister for the environment.
Mr Bruton said yesterday he rang Mr Gilmartin, who is expected to give evidence to the Flood tribunal, after a newspaper put it to him that he might have met him. "As is my practice I wanted to give a straight and full and final answer to this media query. So I checked it out with the only person who could definitely confirm my own view that I had never met Tom Gilmartin - Tom Gilmartin himself.
"Confirming that I had never met him was the sole purpose of my phone call to Mr Gilmartin and I did not seek to influence anything Mr Gilmartin might say to anybody. I rang Mr Gilmartin myself because that is my approach. I ask necessary questions myself. I don't send third parties off to London or elsewhere to ask questions for me."
Mr Bruton made his statement in response to the receipt of three questions from a Sunday newspaper. These asked him if he had ever met Mr Gilmartin; if he had ever met anyone else in the context of the Quarryvale development; and whether he was aware that his second cousin had sold part of the Quarryvale site to Mr Gilmartin.
A spokeswoman for Mr Bruton said yesterday the answer to all three questions was No, although Mr Bruton had since become aware of the sale of his cousin's land to Mr Gilmartin. Mr Bruton confirmed yesterday that his second cousin had indeed sold his home and land to Mr Gilmartin some years ago but he had never discussed this matter with his cousin.
The spokeswoman for Mr Bruton said he had not discussed this matter with Mr Gilmartin either, save to tell him the content of the questions he had been asked by the Sunday newspaper.
Mr Bruton made yesterday's statement after the Minister for Health, Mr Cowen, demanded an explanation. "John Bruton must explain why he was in contact with Mr Tom Gilmartin when he regards contact with any witness to the Flood tribunal as inappropriate and objectionable," he said.
Mr Cowen accused Mr Bruton of being evasive: "Significantly, last week in the Dail Mr Bruton said that he had never met Mr Gilmartin, but today we find that Mr Bruton's spokesman is touting the line that he had merely telephoned Mr Gilmartin to say that he had forgotten whether or not he had met him."
Mr Cowen called on Mr Bruton to explain the phone call. "Mr Bruton must explain why he contacted Mr Gilmartin, what they spoke about, their relationship and the relationship members of his family have with Mr Gilmartin and whether that financial relationship as reported in the press was discussed or had a bearing on his discussions."
Mr Bruton said he called Mr Gilmartin because his approach was to ask straight questions of people. "In contrast, the Taoiseach avoids asking straight questions of people who can give him reliable answers to questions of public importance.
"The Taoiseach never asked Ray Burke directly about donations he got. The Taoiseach never asked Padraig Flynn directly about donations he got. The Taoiseach never asked Charles Haughey anything at all. That is not my way of doing business.
"The Taoiseach remembers nothing simply because he never asks any questions directly. Does Minister Cowen regard as acceptable that the Taoiseach never challenged Mr Burke, Mr Flynn or Mr Haughey to tell him the truth?"
He said he challenged Mr Cowen to ask Mr Ahern direct questions. "He should ask the Taoiseach why he did not check his records before saying he had only met Mr Gilmartin once. He should ask the Taoiseach why he did not check or keep any record of what he asked Mr Gilmartin to do, what Mr Gilmartin asked him to do, or what the Taoiseach asked Councillor Burke to do."
Tomorrow the Dail will debate a Fine Gael private member's motion to call on Mr Flynn, now EU Commissioner, to give a full response to the allegation that he received the £50,000 from Mr Gilmartin. ail should consider whether it is of the opinion that Mr Flynn should continue in office.
The Dail has no power to remove Mr Flynn from his EU position, but the motion is designed to embarrass Fianna Fail by forcing it either to agree to call on Mr Flynn for an explanation or to vote the motion down.