The former Taoiseach, Mr Charles Haughey, invited Dr Edmund Farrell to a meeting in his office at which he sought funds from the Irish Permanent Building Society for an operation for his sick party colleague, the late tanaiste, Mr Brian Lenihan.
Mr Haughey phoned Dr Farrell one morning in early June 1990 to request that they meet, but the then Taoiseach did not specify the purpose of the meeting. Dr Farrell made the short journey from his office in St Stephen's Green to Mr Haughey's office in Kildare Street. When he arrived, Mr Haughey "explained that the Lenihan family were unable to meet the late Mr Lenihan's medical expenses".
Mr Haughey said he was setting up a fund on behalf of Mr Lenihan to meet the costs and "he wanted to know whether the society would consider making a contribution". Dr Farrell "immediately informed him that the society was prepared to make a donation". He inquired to whom the cheque was to be made payable. Mr Haughey replied: "To myself".
Dr Farrell believes Mr Haughey may have added that he intended to approach only a small number of people to contribute to the fund. Dr Farrell said he inferred that Mr Haughey "felt it was not necessary to set up an elaborate system, such as a nominated bank account" to deal with the subscriptions.
He sent Mr Haughey a £20,000 cheque soon after the meeting. The tribunal has found that the cheque, which the society intended for Mr Lenihan, was lodged to Celtic Helicopters' Bank Of Ireland account shortly afterwards.
Mr Farrell had dealt with the cheque "as a matter of urgency" as he had read media reports that the cost of Mr Lenihan's liver transplant was "an extremely expensive undertaking . . . From memory it ran into hundreds of thousands, whether pounds or dollars I can't recall".
The society was "very generous, very philanthropic and donated a lot of money to many charities". Examples of the society's charitable donations included its fundraising for Colin McStay and its donation towards medical equipment for the treatment of cancer patients at St Luke's Hospital.
Counsel for the tribunal, Mr Jerry Healy, displayed a cheque stub marked "CJ Haughey (B. Lenihan) £20,000". Mr Farrell said his secretary typed out a letter to accompany the cheque which read "On behalf of the members of the Society, we are pleased to enclose a cheque for £20,000 to help meet the expenses of Mr Lenihan's operation".
