Burke asked about donation when appointed minister

When the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, called in Mr Ray Burke to inform him he was to be appointed minister for foreign affairs in June…

When the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, called in Mr Ray Burke to inform him he was to be appointed minister for foreign affairs in June 1997 he asked him if he had done anything for a £30,000 donation from JMSE, Mr Burke said yesterday.

The former minister said that when the Taoiseach asked him the question he assured him that he had not done anything for it.

Mr John Gallagher SC, for the tribunal, asked about 25 phone calls made between Mr Michael Bailey and Mr Burke, shown in the records to have taken place between 1994 and 1997.

On June 29th, 1997, Mr Bailey telephoned him at his home. It was a couple of days after Mr Burke was appointed minister for foreign affairs. Mr Bailey had rung to congratulate him on his appointment. Mr Burke made the point to him that he understood he (Bailey) had been talking to the Taoiseach prior to the appointment. Mr Burke said to Mr Bailey that he would like to have a word with him and would he pop over to the house, which he did that morning.

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Asked if Mr Bailey had said where he had been speaking to the Taoiseach prior to his appointment, Mr Burke said no.

"My understanding of the sequence of events was that on the evening that I was appointed, that around 7 o'clock that evening, I was called to the Taoiseach's office and I was informed by the Taoiseach that I was to be appointed minister for foreign affairs but he also made the point to me - he asked me about the political donation that I received in 1989, that he had informed me that he had Dermot Ahern speak to Mr Murphy jnr in London, and he informed me that he personally, the Taoiseach, had checked with Mr Bailey as to the circumstances of the donation," Mr Burke told the tribunal.

"The Taoiseach asked me had I done anything for that donation and I assured him I hadn't."

The Taoiseach also told him that Mr Gogarty had been given immunity by the DPP from prosecution for any co-operation he gave to a Garda investigation.

Mr Burke said he informed Mr Bailey of the immunity on the Sunday morning.

To be fair to Mr Bailey, Mr Burke said, he was very upset that he had brought this man, Mr Gogarty, into his life and had brought him into his home all those years ago in 1989.

Mr Bailey made the point to him that it was a row between two elderly men who had fallen out, who had been together in business and who had been friends and that Mr Bailey regretted the whole thing.

Mr Bailey said he would do everything he possibly could to try and arrange for the two men to be brought together to shake hands because his understanding of the situation was that if only Mr Gogarty could shake hands with Mr Murphy snr the thing could be "put to bed" and these false allegations put to one side.

Asked what Mr Bailey told him about the conversation with the Taoiseach, Mr Burke said that it was a telephone conversation with him.

"Just that he had assured the Taoiseach that it was a political donation and it had no strings attached and nothing had been done for it and nothing had been expected for it," said Mr Burke.