Mr Ray Burke seems set to escape the net of the new tribunal of inquiry following his defiant and emotional justification for accepting a £30,000 cash donation from a builder in 1989.
The two main opposition parties, Fine Gael and Labour, were sufficiently satisfied with the explanation given by the Minister for Foreign Affairs to set aside their demand for the donation to be placed within the remit of the tribunal at this stage.
Government sources confirmed that they will oppose the amendment tabled by Democratic Left last night seeking to have the circumstances of the payment to Mr Burke investigated by the inquiry in its preliminary "sifting" phase. The Green Party also wants the terms of reference broadened.
The Minister, meanwhile, triumphantly declared last night that the book had been closed on the biggest donation of his political career and the controversy which has engulfed him since his appointment. "Whatever comes out of the woodwork from now on, a line is in the sand. From this day on, D-day, I am going on to the peace process, the United Nations and to Europe and no further", he said.
A Government spokesman professed satisfaction that Mr Burke had dealt with the matter "as comprehensively as he could". A spokesman for the Progressive Democrats similarly said: "We have no reason not to believe the assurances."
In a personal statement to the Dail, Mr Burke, his hands shaking nervously, said that, with the benefit of hindsight, it was clear that, in accepting this contribution, even in good faith, he had exposed himself "to the risk of being the subject matter of malicious allegations of the type now being made".
He said that during the 1989 general election campaign he had been visited in his home by Mr Michael Bailey, of Bovale Developments Ltd, and by a Mr James Gogarty. Mr Bailey was well known to him, being a long-time supporter of Fianna Fail. He had not met Mr Gogarty previously, but he was introduced by Mr Bailey as an executive of Joseph Murphy Structural Engineers (JMSE) Ltd.
"Mr Gogarty told me that JMSE wished to make a political contribution to me and I received from him, in good faith, a sum of £30,000 as a totally unsolicited political contribution. At no time during our meeting were any favours sought or given."
Mr Burke later revealed that the £30,000 had been paid in cash, in two envelopes, in denominations which he could not recall. The money had only been counted after the two people left.
He had contributed £10,000 to the Fianna Fail national organisation by bank draft during the 1989 campaign. He had also handed over £7,000 to his local constituency organisation - in two bank drafts - during that campaign. The remainder of the political contributions received by him, including Mr Gogarty's, had been used to cover his personal election campaign and subsequent political expenses.
The Minister produced letters from the Dublin Airport branch of the Ulster Bank to confirm parts of his story. He tripped up somewhat, however, when he read a letter from the same bank into the Dail record showing that an overdraft facility of £35,000 had been sanctioned for him on August 4th, 1989. He commented: "Does that sound like someone who, as has been suggested, was awash with cash?"
Later, under opposition questioning, he was forced to admit that the overdraft was not to pay off election expenses. It had been used for house refurbishment, building a tennis court and changing his wife's car.
Mr Burke refused to answer some questions during the hour-long session. He would not divulge how much was spent in the "very, very expensive" 1989 election campaign nor how much he received in other contributions. He suggested that Mr Gogarty should provide the answer as to why the £30,000 had been given to him.
The Fine Gael front bench said afterwards that it was "not fully satisfied" with the explanation from the Minister. At the very least, he had exercised "extremely poor judgment" in the manner in which he had dealt with the matter. Labour sources indicated that nobody had found a "smoking gun". The party would parse and analyse what the Minister had said.
The former Fine Gael minister, Mr Michael Lowry, also made an unexpected personal statement to the Dail yesterday, saying that it had not been his intention to mislead the House last year.
