After six months of delays and objections by his lawyers, Mr Oliver Barry has finally appeared before the Flood tribunal. Given the brief time he spent in the witness-box yesterday, and the extremely delicate treatment he received, you'd wonder what all the fuss was about.
The problem for the concert promoter and former radio boss who gave Mr Ray Burke £35,000 is that it probably won't be his last appearance before Mr Justice Flood. And the next time, he is unlikely to be treated with kid gloves.
For the first time in public, Mr Barry identified himself as the donor who gave the then minister for industry, commerce and communications his biggest contribution in the run-up to the general election of June 1989.
A nervous, solemn Mr Barry told the tribunal that he took the money from his account with Bank of Ireland in O'Connell Street, Dublin, on May 26th and brought it straight to one of Mr Burke's departmental offices.
Frank Sinatra made an unscheduled stop at the tribunal when Mr Barry revealed that the money was taken from a dedicated account in his name and that of "Ol' Blue Eyes", who had appeared in Dublin some time previously.
That was about it. We learned nothing about Mr Barry's motivation in making the payment, save that it was intended as a political contribution. He couldn't remember filling out a withdrawal slip, what form the money came in, or what denominations were involved.
"I was able to walk out of the bank with it," he said helpfully.
Neither could he remember which of Mr Burke's city-centre offices, in Industry and Commerce or Justice, he brought it to. "He said it would ensure the second seat in north Co Dublin for Fianna Fail," Mr Barry recalled.
Unfortunately for Mr Burke, and notwithstanding the fact that he picked up £117,000 in donations during this period, that vital second seat went to Labour. Fianna Fail was forced into coalition with the PDs for the first time. Mr Burke has said that £118,000 still lies in a political fund, unused; maybe he should have spent more at the time.
Consistent with so many other payments under investigation at this tribunal, no receipt was asked for or given.
At the time of the donation, Mr Barry was chairman of Century Communications. Two months previously Mr Burke had intervened in a dispute over the fees RTE was demanding from Century for transmitting its signal. The minister's intervention had the effect of saving Century £200,000.
Further appearances by Mr Barry seem inevitable, therefore, given the tribunal's remit to investigate any "substantial payments" made to Mr Burke.
Shortly before his appearance, Mr Barry's legal team finally provided the tribunal with documentation relating to the donation. From the limited amount of information revealed yesterday, it appeared that the donation was made from a Century-related account, and that there seemed to be little division between Mr Barry's personal accounts and those of his broadcasting company.
Mr Pat Hanratty SC, for the tribunal, was quick to point out the contradictions in the records. The year of the donation is variously given as 1988, 1989 and 1990, for example, and in some documents it is referred to as a "deposit". Mr Barry said these were errors.
His senior counsel, Mr Colm Allen, asked whether this was the only payment of £35,000 to Mr Burke. "Without a doubt," he replied, "there was only the one £35,000". Only time will tell what to make of this confusing answer.
After Mr Barry left the stand the chairman, Mr Justice Flood, revealed that his long-awaited statement - he avoided using the phrase "opening statement" - would be made on Monday. In this, he will outline the tribunal's progress so far and the future course it intends to take.
This statement is likely to mark an end of sorts to the present module of the tribunal dealing with the allegations made by Mr James Gogarty. The tribunal will be keen to put this largely unhappy experience behind it; Mr Gogarty's evidence dragged on far longer than expected, and the entire episode frequently became bogged down in legal wrangles and rancorous argument.
Mr Justice Flood signalled that future modules would deal separately with Mr Burke, Mr George Redmond and Mr Michael Bailey. Then there is the unrelated matter of the allegations made by the developer Mr Tom Gilmartin, which are expected to prove highly controversial.