Redmond saved five times salary in 1970s

Mr George Redmond was saving five times the amount of his annual salary during the 1970s, the Flood tribunal heard yesterday.

Mr Redmond's salary from 1972 to 1981 inclusive totalled £58,525 and approximately 10 per cent more in expenses.

However, between 1971 and 1980, his savings climbed from approximately £20,000 to around £300,000.

Mr Redmond described how in 1971 he sold his 17-year-old home on the Howth Road for £7,200 and purchased a house in Deerpark Lawn, Castleknock, for £12,000. He said the housebuilder gave him a £500 discount on the original price of £12,500.

Asked about his total savings at the time, Mr Redmond said: "It could well be 15 [thousand pounds]. At this stage I don't know . . . Was it substantial in terms of those years? Yes."

Pressed later on whether £15,000 constituted his total savings in 1971, Mr Redmond said: "I'd feel more comfortable with a figure of around 20 [thousand]," but not more than £22,000.

While he found it difficult to be precise about the amount of money he had 30 years ago, he said: "I had more than enough to pay for the construction of the house and I was thinking of buying other sites in the area at the time."

His accumulated net salary between 1965 and 1971 inclusive totalled £15,810. Mr Redmond said there were also "certain allowances which I had tax-free . . . However, they weren't great."

He estimated that he received an average of £5,000 a year from building industry sources in the four years from 1968 to 1971.

By 1981 Mr Redmond's bank deposits had grown to almost £82,000. Other items included in his diary at the time were £3,000 held in Irish Life, £110,000 in loans he had given to "J. Kennedy", £22,000 described as "press" and £8,000 described as "drawer cheques". Added to his bank balance, this made for a total of almost £225,000.

Counsel for the tribunal, Mr Des O'Neill SC, said the tribunal also believed another £20,000 might also have been available to him at the time.

However, Mr Redmond said his holdings were "considerably in excess" of that total.

"I do recall that I was finished with planning in 1979 and I went on to other duties and at that stage, I've not much doubt I had more than that."

After further questioning Mr Redmond said: "It would certainly be over £300,000."

Mr O'Neill put it to Mr Redmond that total meant he had saved an average of £28,000 per annum in the period 1971 to 1981, at a time when his average net salary was £5,852.

Mr Redmond replied: "Well, I've told you where it came from."

He agreed with Mr O'Neill that the value of "a very good house in Dublin" in 1981 was £35,000. Therefore he had received the value of "eight or nine houses" in that 10-year period, Mr O'Neill said.

"That's one way of translating it," Mr Redmond replied.

The money he received would not have been as much as people in other professions, he said. "The contribution I would have made for the money might have been very large," he told the tribunal.