The circumstances of a payment of £35,000 by Mr Oliver Barry, director of Century Radio, to Mr Ray Burke in 1989 will be among the issues to be considered by the tribunal, counsel said yesterday.
Mr Pat Hanratty SC, for the tribunal, said it would also consider whether Mr Burke as minister for communications made any decisions affecting the radio station which involved improper or inappropriate exercise of his powers.
He said the new section of the tribunal would relate to the award of the franchise for a national broadcasting service to Century Communications Ltd and related matters.
"It seems to me that the issues which will fall for the consideration of the tribunal under this section of its work are whether the payment of £35,000 to Mr Burke was a personal donation by Oliver Barry or whether it was made on behalf of Century Communications and/or its other investors; whether there were other payments by Oliver Barry/Century to Mr Burke; [and] whether decisions made by Mr Burke in his capacity as minister for communications affecting Century Communications involved any improper or inappropriate exercise of his powers," Mr Hanratty said.
A lodgement of £39,500 was made to one of Mr Burke's bank accounts on May 31st, 1989. The tribunal was told by Mr Burke it consisted of an amalgam of political donations he had received, one of which was a political donation of £35,000 he said he received from Mr Barry.
Mr Barry, in evidence, said he had given a political donation - as he described it - of £35,000 to Mr Burke in May 1989.
It was in that context that the chairman had to consider the implications of the payment in the light of the terms of reference, Mr Hanratty said.
Both agreed the money was paid in cash. Mr Barry said he collected the money by prior arrangement from his bank in May 1989. He then went to Mr Burke's offices and gave the cash to Mr Burke.
Mr Hanratty said: "Mr Barry said Mr Burke had said he hoped it would help to win the second seat in North Dublin."
At the time Mr Burke was minister for communications and was responsible for matters relating to radio broadcasting licences.
The granting of licences was not in the power of the minister at the time.
"But there were other statutory functions which the minister might be called upon to perform in his capacity as minister for communications which clearly affected the interests of Mr Barry in his capacity as a promoter, investor, shareholder and director of Century Communications Ltd, which the previous January had in fact been granted the franchise for a national radio broadcasting licence," Mr Hanratty said.
Mr Burke made an important and far-reaching decision when he issued the directive on March 14th, 1989, fixing the level of charges which RTE could levy on Century Communications for use of its national television and radio transmission service, Mr Hanratty said.
"The following year in 1990, Mr Burke made another important decision which had significant implications for Century Communications in that he introduced legislation, the effect of which was to cap the amount of income which RTE could earn from advertising."
Another controversial matter also arose in February 1990, when it was proposed that a portion of the RTE licence fee would be taken and distributed to commercial operations in the private sector. This was subsequently removed from legislation.