The former minister for foreign affairs, Mr Ray Burke, has changed a crucial detail of his account of events at the famous meeting at which he was paid at least £30,000 in 1989.
Mr Burke's lawyers told the planning tribunal yesterday that he received £20,000 in cash and £10,000 by cheque during a visit by Mr James Gogarty and the developer, Mr Michael Bailey, to his home in June 1989.
However, speaking to the Dail in September 1997, Mr Burke stated: "The contribution was entirely in cash". He repeated the assertion under questioning from TDs.
Last month, lawyers for the Murphy group said they had evidence that the amount paid from company accounts was £20,000 in cash and £10,000 in the form of a cheque. Mr Burke is expected to argue that the £10,000 cheque, which was made out to cash, was the equivalent of cash.
Mr Burke's version of the meeting was outlined yesterday by his new legal team during its cross-examination of Mr Gogarty. As expected, the former minister's story contradicts that of Mr Go garty in both major and minor details.
Arguably the greatest surprise Mr Joe Finnegan SC, for Mr Burke, delivered was to conduct his cross-examination in calm and measured tones which have not been seen in Dublin Castle up to now. As a result, Mr Finnegan completed his work in half an hour, while still delivering his client's story and extracting the necessary denials or agreement from the witness.
"Mr Finnegan, a good man," Mr Gogarty remarked at the end. "I am coming here for the last three months and I didn't realise we would be having Finnegans Wake so soon. It's only a matter now of getting the burial plot and that should be no problem."
Mr Burke is sure now the money came from the Murphy group through Mr Gogarty. Mr Bailey gave him nothing. On at least one other occasion, however, he expressed uncertainty as to the source of the payment.
Mr Finnegan said Mr Burke did not know Mr Murphy jnr (though no mention was made of Mr Murphy snr) and had never made a commitment to the Murphys or Mr Bailey in exchange for money or otherwise.
He never did anything to support rezoning of the Murphy lands and even opposed this when the issue arose in 1993, Mr Finnegan said. At the meeting, which lasted 10 minutes and at which no tea was served (Mr Gogarty said tea was produced), Mr Burke did not expect to meet anyone other than Mr Bailey.
In other developments, Mr Justice Flood is set to deliver a crucial ruling today on whether counsel for the Garda will be allowed to cross-examine Mr Gogarty. With such a gap between the testimonies of Mr Gogarty and his detractors, the evidence of gardai could play a key role in determining how credible a witness Mr Gogarty is.
Ms Nuala Butler, for the Garda, has already revealed in a number of interventions that there is no love lost between her clients and the witness, himself a former garda. It was no surprise therefore that she responded vigorously when Mr Frank Callanan SC, for Mr Gogarty, tried to stop her cross-examination before it had begun.
Mr Callanan argued that since Mr Gogarty was making no allegations against the Garda or against individual gardai, there were no matters for Ms Butler to deal with, and no need for her to cross-examine.
He claimed Ms Butler had it in mind to "induce" Mr Gogarty to make allegations against the Gardai so as to discredit him. It was a serious situation that counsel for the Gardai should, at taxpayers' expense, be taking up the time of the tribunal to launch a general attack on the credibility of Mr Gogarty, he said.
"There is an attitude of determined hostility on the part of the State towards Mr Gogarty," he remarked.
Ms Butler said she took grave exception to this and pointed out that she was not representing the State.
The background to this quarrel lies in the varying accounts Mr Gogarty has given of his dealings with the gardai, and in particular their investigations into his allegations of threats and intimidation by Mr Joseph Murphy jnr.
Angered by their failure to prosecute Mr Murphy, he has at various times in the past included the gardai generally and specific gardai in his accusations of corruption.
In his affidavit, he retreated somewhat, saying he came to the belief that "improper influence" had been brought to bear on the gardai. However, in evidence, he backed away even from this position, saying that he now accepted this was not the case.
Ms Butler says that while the gardai accept that Mr Gogarty has withdrawn his original allegations, they do not accept the basis on which this has occurred.
After considering the issue over a short break, Mr Justice Flood opted to sleep on the matter before delivering what he promised would be a "balanced, fair, realistic" ruling this morning.