At the end of a week of often tortuous evidence, Mr George Redmond has admitted to receiving about £350,000 in payments from various builders and businessmen. However, this is still less than half the amount he is believed to have received.
About £250,000 of this came from a builder, Mr Thomas Brennan, over a 20-year period up to 1989, he admitted yesterday. The money was paid on a consultancy basis for advice given or information provided, but Mr Redmond was unable to relate any single payment to a particular development.
"He'd rather come to me than go to the Law Library," he said of Mr Brennan.
Mr Redmond has also given evidence of contributions he received from another developer. From this evidence, The Irish Times believes it is able to identify this developer. This developer has not been named in public, but it was clear from evidence given by Mr Redmond yesterday and earlier in the week that he is the person who allegedly made payments totalling £20,000 to Mr Redmond. The first payment was made in cash in the vestibule of the Dublin County Council offices on O'Connell Street, he told the tribunal on Tuesday.
For the third time, the tribunal yesterday issued a warning to Mr Redmond to "reflect" on his evidence.
Mr Justice Flood invited the witness to "refurbish his memory" before he appears at the tribunal again, some time in the future.
Earlier, Mr Desmond O'Neill SC, for the tribunal, reminded him of the rules of conduct which apply to officials of local authorities.
These ban any outside occupations or acceptance of any gifts that conflict with the interests of the local authority.
Crucially, Mr O'Neill pointed out that the traditional presumption of innocence was reversed under these regulations. Once people were proved to have received money in connection with their work, the onus was on them to prove their innocence.
Mr Redmond is clearly in breach of these regulations, but it is doubtful that the relatively small penalties involved would be sufficient to provoke a change of mind.
Speculation persists that the tribunal is in possession of important information about Mr Redmond which it may use privately to prise more details from him.
As for his dealings with the developer who allegedly gave him £20,000, Mr Redmond yesterday gave evidence regarding the discussions he had with him regarding a parcel of land owned by the developer in Swords, Co Dublin. The county council wished to acquire this land to extend an adjacent area of open space in its possession. Just days before he retired in 1989 Mr Redmond drafted a letter for the developer to send to the council offering the lands for acquisition.
The letter was addressed to the Dublin county manager, but Mr O'Neill pointed out that Mr Redmond was essentially drafting a letter to himself, as he was the official who would decide the matter.
The developer's lands were a key part of the Ward River Valley park which he had been involved in putting together over the years, Mr Redmond explained.
Agreement was reached to sell the land, but after he retired the developer defaulted on this agreement and a new price was negotiated.
Asked by Mr O'Neill whether he wasn't "telling your right hand what your left hand was doing", Mr Redmond insisted the action he took was in the county council's interest.
Last year, the tribunal heard the Swords lands had been valued at £14,000. Mr Redmond offered to buy them from the developer for £30,000. But after he retired other council officials found the developer was claiming that, as part of the deal he struck with Mr Redmond, the council was also to waive a £18,500 levy he faced on another development.
Mr Redmond finished his evidence in typical vainglorious fashion, boasting about how "I put together two Phoenix parks on my own" through land acquisition and how "I am not an unintelligent man . . . I was right down the middle as far as the duties I had to perform," he declared.
He even admitted to "conning" people out of hundreds of thousands of pounds by negotiating hard on behalf of the council. However, the people he had in mind here were the same class of developers who paid him so much money, not the rest of us who had to listen to such guff.
The tribunal then adjourned to May 29th.
The lobbyist, Mr Frank Dunlop, is expected to appear again at the tribunal shortly afterwards. Mr Dunlop has been in discussions with the tribunal's legal team this week.