A series of calls were made from phones owned by Mr Michael Bailey or his company, Bovale Developments, to Sunday Independent journalist, Mr Jody Corcoran, a senior garda told the Flood Tribunal yesterday.
The calls were made in late 1998, around the time that Mr Corcoran published a number of leaks of confidential documents from the tribunal, including the affidavit of key witness Mr James Gogarty.
Mr Bailey has denied on several occasions having had any contact with journalists concerning the tribunal.
Det Supt Pat Brehony was called to give evidence regarding his investigation into a series of leaks which seriously undermined the tribunal prior to the beginning of public hearings early last year.
Mr Justice Flood called in the Garda following strenuous complaints from a number of parties to the tribunal, including Mr Bailey, about the unauthorised disclosure of confidential information.
Acting on legal advice, Mr Bailey refused to answer questions put to him during his interview with gardai. His brother, Tom, who is also a director of Bovale, also declined to answer questions.
Det Supt Brehony and a staff of 12 other gardai interviewed 98 people as part of their investigation. Over 4 1/2 months, they spent 600 working days investigating articles written by five journalists.
The gardai interviewed Mr Justice Flood, tribunal legal and clerical staff and parties to whom documents had been circulated, as well as their legal representatives. Every single person interviewed by the gardai denied having leaked the documents. Det Supt Brehony said he was satisfied no member of the tribunal staff was the source of the leaks. He sent two files regarding investigations into articles written by five journalists to the Director of Public Prosecutions, who recommended that no prosecution take place.
The tribunal circulated Mr Gogarty's affidavit to eight affected parties on October 20th, 1998. Mr Corcoran first disclosed details from Mr Gogarty's affidavit in an article published on November 8th. A week later, the Sunday Independent published lengthy verbatim extracts from the affidavit.
Det Supt Brehony gave evidence of a call lasting over eight minutes from a mobile phone registered in Mr Michael Bailey's name to Mr Corcoran's work number on November 7th. There were two further calls from landlines linked to Mr Bailey to Mr Corcoran on November 22nd, and eight further short calls on November 27th.
Det Supt Brehony pointed out that he had established that there was contact between certain phones, but there was no proof that the people who owned those phones had spoken to each other. None of the parties involved had answered questions on this.
Responding to the leaking of Mr Gogarty's affidavit, Mr Bailey told journalists through a spokesman that he was "shocked and horrified" at the development. In December 1998, in a letter his lawyers wrote to the tribunal, Mr Bailey said he had not talked to journalists. Subsequently, in February 1999, he was called to give evidence in relation to another leak, during which he again denied talking to journalists.
Before Det Supt Brehony gave evidence, Mr John Gallagher SC, for the tribunal, read a lengthy series of correspondence between the tribunal and various parties complaining about the different leaks. Lawyers for the Baileys, the Murphy group, Fianna Fail politicians Mr Ray Burke and Mr Liam Lawlor and Cork property developer Mr Owen O'Callaghan all called on the tribunal to take action to stop the leaks.
Lawyers for Mr Bailey are due to cross-examine Det Supt Brehony, after which the tribunal will begin its investigation of the payment made by concert promoter Mr Oliver Barry to Mr Ray Burke.
pcullen@irish-times.ie
