The Minister for Health, Mr Micheál Martin, told the High Court yesterday that the 2002 general election was the first to be governed by new legislation setting spending limits for candidates, and he was very anxious to be in compliance with that legislation.
He agreed that the Fianna Fáil national executive had passed a rule in 2001 stating that each candidate was required to assign half of their spending limit to the party's national campaign, and that candidates were required to sign written undertakings to that effect.
Mr Shane Murphy SC, reprsenting disability campaigner Ms Kathy Sinnott, suggested it was "wholly implausible" that Mr Martin had made a secret arrangement before the election to reduce the amount he gave his party, in order to keep within the spending limit.
"I don't regard it as implausible," Mr Martin said. He did not see a need for having a written record of a verbal arrangement with the party whereby he could reduce the assigned figure if required.
The candidates' written undertakings would be held in Fianna Fáil headquarters and could also be viewed by the Public Offices Commission.
Mr Martin agreed he had never written to the party asking to reduce his assignment.
However, during all this time, he was taking advice from his agent in relation to the requirements of complying with the 1997 Electoral Act on spending limits for candidates, he said.
Mr Martin was opposing a petition, brought by Ms Sinnott and Mr Mark Menihane, an elector in Cork South Central, aimed at overturning the result of the general election in the five-seater constituency in May 2002, where Mr Martin topped the poll and Ms Sinnott was narrowly defeated for the last seat.
Mr Martin topped the poll with a surplus of 5,500 votes. Also elected were Mr Batt O'Keeffe and Mr John Dennehy of Fianna Fáil, Mr Simon Coveney of Fine Gael and Mr Dan Boyle of the Green Party. After a marathon count and recount, Ms Sinnott lost the last seat to Mr Dennehy by a margin of six votes.
Ms Sinnott claims Mr Martin exceeded the legal spending limit of €38,092 and this had had a material effect on the outcome of the election. She is seeking a fresh election.
The essence of Ms Sinnott's case is that Mr Martin assigned half of his limit, €19,046, to Fianna Fáil and went on to spend €21,430, making a total of more than €40,000.
She also claims he didn't include in his return all the expenses incurred from public funds, such as the cost of his special advisers during the election and the cost of the constituency unit in the Department of Health.
Mr Martin agrees he did sign an undertaking before the 2002 election stating he was assigning 50 per cent of his spend to Fianna Fáil.
However, he says he did this in the context of an agreement, reached between his election agent and Fianna Fáil's finance director, Mr Hugh Dolan, to the effect that the assigned amount could be reduced by up to IR£5,000 (about €6,400) if required by Mr Martin.
In the event, it is claimed on behalf of Mr Martin that he didn't need to spend all of the contingency of €6,400, and his spending return had assigned to Fianna Fáil a figure of €15,546.
That return also recorded his personal spend as €20,430 which, plus the assigned figure of €15,546, placed him under the limit of €38,092.
It is also claimed on behalf of Mr Martin that there was an agreement that the other two Fianna Fáil candidates in Cork South Central, Mr O'Keeffe and Mr Dennehy, would have access to a similar contingency fund of €6,400 each if required.
Mr Gerard O'Mahony, election agent for all three Fianna Fáil candidates, said neither Mr O'Keeffe nor Mr Dennehy required to avail of that contingency. Mr O'Mahony told the court yesterday he regarded a spreadsheet as a written agreement of the contingency.
In evidence yesterday, Mr Martin told his counsel, Mr Paul Gallagher SC, that before he had signed the undertaking assigning the 50 per cent to Fianna Fáil, he knew the €6,400 was available to him. The undertaking was recorded as returned to Fianna Fáil on March 21st, 2002.
His understanding was that this was an internal agreement between Fianna Fáil candidates and Fianna Fáil headquarters and it was in that spirit he had entered into it.
The standard thing was to assign 50 per cent to the party, and he could see the sense of that.
While candidates were not obliged to assign any money to Fianna Fáil for the national election campaign, to withhold money from the party would place it in a very difficult position going into an election, he added.
However, he was not initially happy about assigning 50 per cent to Fianna Fáil. He felt there had to be flexibility because Cork South Central was a marginal constituency.
The confirmation of the contingency sum played a role in his signing the assignation undertaking.
He said his agent had included all expenses incurred by his Cork constituency office during the election campaign, although he personally and his office workers believed not all of their work during that time was election-related.
Nonetheless, they had included the full costs.
He had not included any expenses from the constituency unit in the Department of Health because none of the staff there were engaged in election work, he said. They were full-time civil servants. If he were required to include the costs of the Dublin unit or those of his special adviser, Mr Christy Mannion, he would regard that as "a grave injustice".
Mr Martin's evidence concluded yesterday, and the petition hearing will continue before Mr Justice Kelly on Tuesday.
