Mr George Redmond has no plans to seek redress against the State following the quashing of his conviction on corruption charges, he told The Irish Times yesterday. Paul Cullen reports.
"I haven't thought about that at all," the 80-year-old former assistant Dublin city and county manager said when asked if he intended to sue for the eight months he spent in Cloverhill Prison.
"I'm just glad to be out, even if it's only three weeks ahead of time. But it's still a huge shock," he said.
With remission for good behaviour, Mr Redmond was due to be released on August 18th.
Asked about his plans now that he was free again, he said he was looking forward to "a swim and a game of tennis. And there's always the Olympic Games to look forward to."
Mr Redmond was freed by the Court of Criminal Appeal yesterday after it overturned as "unsafe and unsatisfactory" his conviction in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court last year on two counts of corruption.
The three-judge Court of Criminal Appeal said new evidence showed that a crucial part of the evidence of garage-owner Mr Brendan Fassnidge at Mr Redmond's trial was "simply wrong".
Had this new evidence, relating to bank records of Mr Fassnidge, been available to the defence at the trial, it would assuredly have thrown a very grave doubt over Mr Fassnidge's evidence as a whole, the court said.
Mr Redmond was still in the holding cells beneath the Four Courts yesterday morning when Ms Justice McGuinness read the Court of Criminal Appeal's short verdict declaring his conviction "unsafe and unsatisfactory".
"I was still under lock and key when the judgment was given. The press were asking me for my reaction when I didn't even know the result," he said.
After yesterday's decision, he went for tea in the Four Courts cafe with his legal team, before leaving in the company of his solicitor, Mr Anthony Harris, without making any comment.
Speaking later from his home in Castleknock, Mr Redmond said he would have to "wait and see" whether the State decided to proceed with two further corruption charges against him.
As for Mr Fassnidge's claim that he paid a £10,000 bribe to the former official, Mr Redmond said: "I knew from the beginning that it didn't happen as alleged."
He said he had "no complaint" with the Criminal Assets Bureau detectives who brought the prosecution.
"They just did their job. They had to rely on what people said to them."
In their appeal Mr Redmond's lawyers produced Mr Fassnidge's bank statements, which showed that the garage-owner had not withdrawn the £10,000 sum as he had claimed.
Yesterday, Mr Redmond revealed that the statements came to light following a conversation he had at the tribunal with Mr Paul Sheeran, Mr Fassnidge's former bank manager at the Bank of Ireland in Blanchardstown.
He said Mr Sheeran, who was giving evidence about his involvement with developer Mr Tom Gilmartin, told him he had seen the bank's records, and that these showed there had been no withdrawal from Mr Fassnidge's account.
Mr Redmond passed this information to his legal team, which obtained the records, after some delay, from the DPP.
In recent months, Mr Redmond has been transported daily by prison bus to the tribunal in Dublin Castle, where he was given day-release to attend hearings.
However, asked yesterday if he intended to return to the hearings on his own steam this week, he said he thought he might "give it a break".