Cheque payee `very annoyed' his good name was used

The Fine Gael supporter named as the payee on the £33,000 cheque from Esat/Telenor to Fine Gael has told the Moriarty tribunal he was "very annoyed" that his good name had been used to get the donation to the party.

Mr Frank Conroy, a lifelong Fine Gael supporter, said he had been contacted in 1997 by fundraiser Mr David Austin, who said he had a cheque for the party. Mr Conroy assumed it was the "tail-end" of funds raised at a fundraising dinner in New York in 1995.

Mr Conroy said he was surprised that the cheque was made out to him, rather than Fine Gael. This had never happened before, he said.

"I was amazed when I got the cheque made out to myself and to be quite honest with you, I felt that he, David, might have thought there was a little bit of rivalry in the capital [Dublin] branch as to who would collect the most money. I thought that maybe was one of the reasons he made the cheque payable to me rather than making it payable to Fine Gael."

Mr Conroy endorsed the cheque and immediately passed it on to the party. He said "absolutely categorically" no mention was made to him of Esat Digifone or Telenor in connection with the donation.

He first heard of the controversy surrounding the cheque earlier this year. Mr Conroy said he felt "very annoyed" that his good name had been used to get a cheque into the party "completely without my permission".

The tribunal also heard that the Dublin branch of Fine Gael was a "very secretive organisation" when it came to fundraising. Mr Conroy said members were given a list of people to approach for fundraising but only the general secretary and the branch chairman knew how much was collected by whom. "It was a very, very secretive organisation. We all held our lists of contacts which we made every election to seek funds to fight the election," he said.