Cowen discussed economy at dinner

TAOISEACH BRIAN Cowen has revealed that he discussed economic issues with a group of people at a dinner on the evening in July 2008 when he played golf with Seán FitzPatrick.

Mr Cowen said that “in doing one’s work, one meets with people from all walks of life”. He had gone on a golf outing with a friend, Fintan Drury, and Mr FitzPatrick was there as well. They were joined later at a meal by Alan Gray, a director of the Central Bank; Gary McGann, chief executive of Smurfit Kappa and an Anglo director at the time; and Mr Cowen’s Garda driver.

Mr Cowen said the other invitees had been organised by Mr Drury, who had also organised the golf outing in Druids Glen.

“And it was about being able to sit down with people, at the end of that day, and having a chat . . . You recall that we had a mini-budget, we saw recession on the horizon, a big slowdown in our economy.

“As Taoiseach I was there chatting at that stage to see were there ideas, what were other people’s views, were there things that could be done that might be helpful. As you know, those people would have some views on that. So, that was, basically, the total sum of it.”

The Taoiseach was replying to Sinn Féin Dáil leader Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, who met Mr Cowen while attending a wedding in the Druids Glen complex on the same evening.

Mr Ó Caoláin accused the Taoiseach “of stretching credibility” in saying his was a social engagement.

Mr Cowen said his previous reference to Mr Ó Caoláin’s presence in Druids Glen “was not in any way to muddy waters”. It was simply to indicate there was no suggestion of meeting surreptitiously in a corner or in a room. “As you saw yourself, it was in the open part . . . where you get a meal after a golf outing. Those people joined us, and we had an evening there.”

Pressed further by Mr Ó Caoláin, the Taoiseach said the game of golf had taken place on the first day off after the last Cabinet meeting before the summer break. “We probably quit on the Friday. It was the Monday of the following week, and I can assure you it was a relaxing day for the purposes of having a game of golf and just shooting the breeze, as they say, or talking in a social way to people I know.”

There was no discussion of Anglo Irish Bank. “I am not going to say it happened just because it might make it more plausible to you,” said Mr Cowen.

He said he was acutely aware that people could draw wrong conclusions “because we are in a very fraught atmosphere, and subsequent things happened that, obviously, are projected back on to those issues at that time”.

Mr Ó Caoláin said the Taoiseach had to take on board there was a huge question mark in the public mind. In July 2008, Anglo Irish Bank had set about putting together a list of 10 names to try to boost the collapsing share price.

Mr FitzPatrick, he added, had denied he was ever exposed to the detail of that or the names involved. “Yet David Drumm, who succeeded him, has countered that and said very clearly that Mr FitzPatrick was fully informed and knew of the names and the intended purpose.”

“Here we have a situation where the outgoing chief executive and his smiled-upon successor are now at absolute loggerheads and both of them cannot be telling the truth.”

Mr Ó Caoláin said the Taoiseach was suffering a credibility deficit in terms of the Opposition and the public. The same applied for “his own backbenches and also for the Green Party”.

Recalling meeting Mr Cowen in Druid’s Glen, he said there was a number of people in the wider company and more than two.

“I was not introduced to them, I did not know them personally,” he added. “I had never met Seán FitzPatrick before or since.”