The primary function of the Moriarty tribunal is to discover who gave money to Mr Charles Haughey in 1979 and 1996 and, having done so, to decide the motivation behind those payments.
Yesterday, his fourth day in the witness box, Mr Haughey was for the first time questioned directly about evidence uncovered by the tribunal of someone wanting to give him money. He was unable to help the tribunal on this. On February 19th, 1979, Mr Michael Phelan, bank manager at AIB Dame Street, met Mr Haughey, then minister for health and social welfare, in Mr Haughey's office. The two men, who had known each other for many years and who Mr Haughey says were friends, discussed the possibility of Mr Haughey selling land at Abbeville to reduce his debts. Mr Phelan's memo of the meeting continues:
"Apart altogether from any monies from the sale of lands he told me that from a development in Baldoyle, which was now coming to fruition, there would be a sum of £200,000 coming to him. He expected this amount to be available in a month at the outside".
Mr Haughey said he had no idea what that could refer to. He did not question Mr Phelan's competence and presumed some such conversation probably took place, but said he had no involvement with any development in Baldoyle and had never been promised money by anyone involved in a development there. "I don't know to what it could refer," Mr Haughey said. "It puzzles me." He was "quite clear" no one had promised him £200,000 from a scheme in Baldoyle. That was the sort of thing he would remember, he said. Mr Haughey was questioned closely by Mr John Coughlan SC, for the tribunal, but wasn't asked if property developer Mr John Byrne might have been behind the suggestion noted by the bank manager.
Mr Byrne is a very wealthy friend of Mr Haughey's going back 40 years. One of his companies, Endcamp Ltd, (now Smithfield Property Development Ltd) took out a mortgage on property in Baldoyle in January 1975. It settled the mortgage on January 12th, 1979, just under a month before Mr Haughey's meeting with his bank manager. Endcamp took out a number of mortgages on land and property in Portmarnock and Baldoyle, both in north Co Dublin, in the mid to late 1970s. Its fourth mortgage, taken out in April 1979, was on Baldoyle racecourse. Mr Byrne has denied he ever gave "a penny" to Mr Haughey, though he did invest in his son, Ciaran's company, Celtic Helicopters. Also, a cheque of his, for £50,000, ended up going to Mr Haughey in February 1989, though Mr Byrne has said in evidence he does not know how this happened.
Interestingly, Mr Haughey said he would have discussed his affairs with his financial adviser, the late Mr Des Traynor, before his 1979 meeting with his bank manager. Mr Traynor was a director of Endcamp and a financial adviser to Mr Byrne. He was also, of course, the main architect of the Ansbacher deposits, with which Mr Byrne's property companies, including Endcamp, have been linked.
In the early 1980s, during a controversy over Mr Byrne's plan to have Endcamp build 2,000 houses between Baldoyle and Portmarnock, there was speculation Mr Haughey was involved. Mr Byrne's solicitors, Gore & Grimes, took the unprecedented step of issuing a statement denying that Mr Haughey had "any direct or indirect interest, beneficial or otherwise", in the project.
Mr Haughey's evidence is to continue this morning. Mr Dermot Desmond may give evidence in the afternoon, and the tribunal will then break for the summer.