A solicitor would say Mr James Gogarty never brought a draft letter that had been drawn up by Mr George Redmond to his office, the tribunal was told yesterday.
Mr Garrett Cooney SC, for James Murphy Structural Engineering, said there was a letter written by Mr Gogarty on May 10th, 1988, dealing with the expiration of planning permission on the Forest Road lands.
Mr Gogarty had said the letter was written as a result of a draft letter given to him by Mr Redmond, then an assistant Dublin city and county manager.
Mr Gogarty said Mr Redmond gave the draft letter to Mr Murphy jnr and Mr Gogarty gave it to Mr Denis McArdle, the company solicitor, after the meeting in Dublin County Council offices, but not the same day. Mr Redmond produced a substantial file and said: "I took it as being a file that was relating to his previous experience with Conroy".
Mr Gogarty said he brought the draft letter to Mr McArdle's office and a secretary typed it up on Grafton Construction notepaper that Mr Gogarty had brought with him.
Mr Cooney said Mr McArdle would be telling the tribunal that he never had such notepaper. Mr Gogarty said he told Mr McArdle it was the text of a letter prepared by Mr Redmond. The letter was typed.
Mr Cooney said: "I want to put it to you that that's a load of codswallop from beginning to end, and that that meeting in Mr McArdle's office never took place and I will tell you why.
"Mr McArdle, as you agree, is a careful and conscientious solicitor. He does not have on his file the text of the letter which you say was drafted by Mr Redmond and he does not have a single file copy of the completed letter which was sent to Dublin County Council."
Mr Gogarty said: "I can't speak for him."
Mr Cooney put it to him that "Mr Joseph Murphy jnr was never next or near to the Dublin County Council offices on that date or any other date".
Mr Gogarty said Mr Murphy would speak for himself.
Mr Cooney said Mr Gogarty wrote another letter on the same day, May 10th, to Mr Murphy snr in Guernsey, in which he talked about recovering the company. He put it to Mr Gogarty that if the meeting with Mr Redmond had taken place in the circumstances he described and in the presence of Mr Murphy jnr, he would have made some reference in the letter.
Mr Gogarty said: "Not necessarily."