Gilmartin evidence:Developer Tom Gilmartin told yesterday's Mahon tribunal that he was driven in a pick-up truck to two pubs in Dublin to find Bertie Ahern and establish whether he was asking for £500,000 from him.
Mr Gilmartin told Patrick Quinn SC, for the tribunal, that he had contacted Mr Ahern, then the minister for labour, when he was having problems buying some corporation land at Irishtown in May 1989.
He said the then assistant city manager, George Redmond, had interfered with his purchase of the land and he explained his problem to Mr Ahern in a telephone call.
After the call, Dublin city councillor Joe Burke had visited him on Mr Ahern's behalf and his purchase of the Irishtown land in Clondalkin was then endorsed by councillors and went through in June. He paid £5.1 million for almost 70 acres.
He told the tribunal that he met Mr Burke on four occasions and on the fourth occasion Mr Burke suggested he might give Mr Ahern £500,000.
He said Mr Burke came to meet him at his office, some time in September 1989.
"He asked would I not be prepared to pay half a million because I knew Bertie was looking after me," he said.
He said Mr Burke then asked him to meet Mr Ahern, but he said he was on his way to the airport to go back to England. "Mr Burke offered to take me to the airport and on the way he said he would take me to meet Mr Ahern," he said.
Mr Gilmartin told the tribunal that Mr Burke drove him to Fagan's pub in Drumcondra in a pick-up truck and went inside to look for Mr Ahern. He was in the pub for 20 minutes with Mr Gilmartin waiting outside, but he could not find Mr Ahern.
"I recall Mr Burke then driving me to another pub located in the vicinity of Beaumont hospital," he said.
"Again, I remember Mr Burke going inside and being in the pub for 10 minutes while I waited outside."
Mr Gilmartin said he became anxious about missing his flight and when Mr Burke returned, he insisted on being brought to the airport.
He never saw Mr Burke again and he never discussed the matter with Mr Ahern or paid over the £500,000.
Mr Gilmartin came under repeated pressure from Mr Quinn. He was asked if it was his sworn testimony to the tribunal that he was asked for £500,000 and that he understood it was for Mr Ahern. He said it was.
Mr Quinn asked why he had not included his statement about Mr Burke in evidence to the tribunal in 2001 and in earlier evidence to his own solicitor. Mr Gilmartin said it was possible that "because the story is so long and convoluted that there were omissions in it" and that when he spoke to his solicitor it was off the top of his head.
"This is no ordinary omission now in fairness," Mr Quinn said. "This is a fairly substantial allegation. I mean, there was hardly a property in Dublin, a house in Dublin, that couldn't have been bought for half a million pounds in 1989 or 1990."
Mr Gilmartin said he was confused about the dates and conceded that he was "no good on dates".
Mr Gilmartin was also asked about the leaking of tribunal documents to third parties and he denied having any part in it. "As a matter of fact, I had journalists ringing me up about certain elements of it which I knew nothing about," he said.
