Yesterday the tribunal revealed yet another donation received by the former Taoiseach, Mr Charles Haughey, from big business - this time a painting by Jack B. Yeats.
Counsel for the tribunal, Mr Jerry Healy SC, said Dr Michael Smurfit is to give evidence that the painting, The Forge, by Yeats, was given to Mr Haughey in 1990, when he was Taoiseach.
Mr Healy said that Mr Haughey, who is to begin giving evidence today, will at this stage be questioned about the settlement of his massive debt with AIB in December 1979/January 1980 and, if time permits, his dealings with Guinness & Mahon bank in the 1980s.
Mr Haughey's debt of £1.143 million was cleared with a payment of £750,000 in the weeks immediately after he was elected leader of Fianna Fail and Taoiseach in December 1979. Mr Patrick Gallagher has given evidence of giving £300,000 to Mr Haughey but the identity of the other donors has not yet been established.
As the tribunal is to break for the summer on Friday of next week, and Mr Haughey is due to give evidence for only two hours each morning, it seems he will be recalled to continue giving evidence after the summer break, and in all he is likely to be giving evidence for a number of weeks.
Next week Mr Haughey will give evidence in the mornings and in the afternoons other witnesses will be called. Dr Smurfit is to be recalled to give evidence, as is Mr Dermot Desmond.
Mr Healy said Dr Smurfit, as well as giving evidence about the Yeats painting, will also tell of contacting the late Mr Des Traynor some time in 1989, 1990 or 1991, and asking him if he would join the expensive golf club, the K Club. Mr Traynor declined but took the opportunity to inform Dr Smurfit that Mr Haughey had financial difficulties and that he was seeking to raise funds for him. He asked Dr Smurfit if he would make a contribution and the businessman said no.
It is already known that Mr Traynor asked Mr Ben Dunne, through Mr Noel Fox, for money for Mr Haughey in 1987. Evidence has also been heard that an approach was made to Mr Desmond, who also said no, again in 1987.
Mr Desmond is to return to the tribunal to give further evidence concerning his dealings with Feltrim Mining plc, now Minmet, the exploration company set up by Mr Conor Haughey, Mr Healy said.
Mr Dunne, a frequent visitor to the tribunal, was back giving evidence again yesterday. This time it concerned a cheque from him and made out to cash, lodged to an account in NIB by Mrs Maureen Haughey in June 1993. Mr Dunne could not remember making the payment.
He explained that in May 1993 he was hospitalised after an accident in which he fractured both ankles. He spent a month in hospital but was able to make trips out of the hospital during the final two weeks. After being released from hospital he spent two weeks at home, before going to the Mediterranean.
While in hospital he received a telephone call from Mr Haughey who inquired after his health. He was invited to lunch by Mr Haughey and attended two lunches in Kinsealy before he went to the Mediterranean. He could remember details of the lunches. The lunches were attended by Mr Dunne, a driver of his and Mr and Mrs Haughey. He presumed the cheque was handed over during the lunches but had no memory of of how this had occurred or even if it had.
By way of explanation, Mr Dunne said just three months earlier he had been removed from his executive role with Dunnes Stores, had just stopped taking cocaine and was in a dispute with his siblings. He was very depressed and was not "of stable mind" and this might have affected his memory. He was not at all suggesting Mr Haughey might have taken advantage of his condition.
Evidence was also heard yesterday from a chartered accountant, Mr Hugh Dolan, who took over from Mr Sean Fleming TD as financial controller of Fianna Fail in 1998. Mr Dolan dealt with requests last year from the tribunal for access to its records on political donations and showed lawyers for the tribunal some of the party books during a visit by them to the party HQ.
However, Mr Dolan did not show the tribunal documents which would have enabled the lawyers to identify contributors whose donations had been entered in the party books as anonymous. This was because, Mr Dolan said, he himself didn't know this documentation existed and he believed the donations truly had been anonymous. Mr Fleming had not been involved in dealing with the tribunal's request.
It was while dealing with queries from the Flood Tribunal a few months ago, during which Mr Fleming was consulted, that Mr Dolan learned the documentation existed. He subsequently informed the Moriarty legal team.