Lawyers for Mr Ray Burke, the former minister for industry, commerce and communications, yesterday asked the Flood tribunal for an adjournment of his proposed appearance at the hearing next week.
Mr Burke was to have been called in connection with a section of the tribunal relating to Mr Oliver Barry, the concert promoter and former director of Century Radio.
In February, Mr Barry told the tribunal he had paid Mr Burke a £35,000 political contribution in the run-up to the general election of June 1989. He said he had taken the money from a dedicated account in his name and that of Frank Sinatra, who had appeared in Dublin some time previously.
Other issues to be dealt with in this section concerning Mr Burke would be decisions made about the transmission charges paid annually to RTE and the capping of RTE advertising, the tribunal was told.
Mr Barry was also due to appear next week, but yesterday Mr Aidan Walsh SC, for Mr Burke, made an application for an adjournment of the "Oliver Barry module" for three weeks.
Mr Burke had only received notification in early June that the module would start on July 4th next, he said. At that time, his lawyers had received no documents. They received some statements late last Wednesday and found that they required a further 23 folders of documents.
In the documentation, there was a previously unheard-of allegation that Mr Burke received money from a third party. Mr Walsh said this was hearsay and malicious gossip, but at the same time it would have to be investigated.
"Mr Burke is a retired politician, a private citizen, and all the documents in relation to these matters are in the files of the Independent Radio and Television Commission (IRTC) and the various departments," he said.
Until they got them, lawyers would not be in a position to defend the matter. Mr Pat Hanratty SC, for the tribunal, submitted that Mr Burke had known since early last year that the matter of a payment to him by Mr Barry would be the subject of inquiry. Mr Burke had been asked to provide a statement to the tribunal, but he had not done so. He was informed on June 8th that the tribunal proposed to embark on public evidence.
The issues involved must have been fairly clear to Mr Burke for a long time, Mr Hanratty said. The question of the grant of a franchise to the IRTC was somewhat peripheral because the IRTC was the decision-making body.
"In so far as Mr Burke is concerned, the decisions which he made, to which I think the inquiry will reduce itself down, are firstly the directive under Section 16 of the Broadcasting Act, fixing the amount of transmission charges that would be paid on an annual basis to RTE, and secondly the capping of the RTE advertising, which was also a ministerial decision," said Mr Hanratty.
Last week, the tribunal had provided Mr Burke's legal team with the documents the tribunal would use in evidence.
Mr Walsh said that the reason Mr Burke had not furnished a statement was because he wanted to see the documentation first.
In view of the new allegations, lawyers wanted other documentation relevant to the case.
The chairman said he would give a ruling tomorrow morning .