Mr Ray Burke denied he had a private understanding with a Century Radio director, Mr Oliver Barry, to pay lower transmission charges to RTE. This was despite the fact that he went against the advice of his Department officials and cut charges in a ministerial directive in 1989, Mr Patrick Hanratty SC, for the tribunal, said.
Mr Justice Flood agreed that the suggestion that there was an understanding on transmission charges was "not unfounded" when Mr Burke's legal team challenged it. "It does float, it's a feather that is floating," he said.
After he had agreed with RTE and his departmental officials that a figure of £320,000 should be paid, Mr Burke decided to fix the charge for maintenance of RTE transmission equipment paid by Century at £30,000, Mr Hanratty added.
"Come what may you would see them right on the transmission charges at the end of the day," he said.
Mr Burke went against the advice of his departmental secretary that Century's proposed charges seriously underestimated the cost, Mr Hanratty said.
"Here you were giving £30,000 to RTE for the entire FM and AM network," he said.
In addition to the £30,000 fee, the ministerial directive outlined that Century would pay £1,000 to RTE for every maintenance visit, Mr Burke said.
He said the charges were lowered because Century was not prepared to pay the figure offered by RTE. "I was faced with a situation where I was told this isn't going anywhere," he said.
Why had Mr Burke written a letter to the Independent Radio and Television Commission saying RTE's figures were "not unreasonable" if he only weeks later he was to cut the charges? Mr Hanratty asked.
"It was not unreasonable to me but I wasn't the one paying the bill," Mr Burke replied.
While Mr Burke said he got the figure of £30,000 for maintenance charges from an independent consultancy group, Mr Hanratty challenged this, saying the figure came from Century Radio. Mr Burke denied this.
Mr Hanratty challenged Mr Burke's assertion that he actually had the document from the consultancy group when he made the directive on charges. "I had it and it was an assistance to me in making my decision," the former minister said.