James Gogarty, the whistleblower whose revelations about bribing former minister Ray Burke led to the setting up of the planning tribunal, has died at the age of 88.
Mr Gogarty died in Beaumont Hospital yesterday after several years of declining health. He is survived by his wife, Anna, and seven children.
A former garda and building company executive, Mr Gogarty achieved fame in his eighties when he appeared as the tribunal's star witness against Mr Burke.
As the underdog assailing corruption among politicians and the business class, Mr Gogarty became a cult figure for long-time taxpayers angry at the way the State was being run. Large crowds flocked to Dublin Castle to witness his feisty and often bizarre appearances in the witness box in 1999, and these were re-enacted nightly on radio.
Ironically, Mr Gogarty's main interest throughout his years in the limelight was not the £30,000 paid to Mr Burke at his home in 1989, but his deeply-felt grievance over the inadequate pension he received from his long-time employers, Joseph Murphy Structural Engineers (JMSE).
Anger over the terms of this settlement led him to respond to a newspaper advertisement placed by two lawyers in 1995 seeking information on political corruption. In the course of expaining his pension difficulties, he revealed that JMSE and a developer, Michael Bailey, had paid the money to Mr Burke in return for a planning favour.
In the years that followed, rumours about the payment gradually seeped into the media, but were aggressively denied by Mr Burke. Mr Gogarty claimed the payment had been made to secure the politician's "support and political influence on councillors" in rezoning 700 acres owned by the Murphy companies in north Dublin. The land was the subject of a joint-development proposal involving Mr Bailey and his companies, and the Murphy companies.
The octogenarian's quips became legendary. In the early days of his marathon session in the witness box, he said he had come to the tribunal "to get the truth, warts and all, and if I did wrong I am ready to take my place in the queue to pay for it."
He famously recalled travelling with Mr Bailey to make the payment to Mr Burke: "There was some general chat on the way and I remember saying in a light-hearted way: 'I suppose we will get a receipt for these monies', and Mr Bailey replied: 'Will we f**k!'." Mr Gogarty's claims were strongly denied by those involved.
However, the 2001 report by tribunal chairman Justice Feargus Flood vindicated Mr Gogarty, and implicated Burke, Mr Bailey, Joseph Murphy senior and Joseph Murphy junior in the corrupt payment. "The payment received by Mr Burke amounted to a corrupt payment and all present at the meeting were aware that it was such," it said.
Born in 1917 in Kells, Co Meath, Mr Gogarty served in the auxiliary force of An Garda Síochána during the Second World War and later joined the force proper and was stationed at Clontarf. He left to complete studies in engineering, which led to work in the construction industry.
After his tribunal appearances, Mr Gogarty returned to quiet retirement with his family, and spurned all requests for interviews or publicity.
