The Race for the Áras (31 page)

McGuinness turned from facing front across his lectern directly to Gallagher on his left shoulder. ‘He says it's not true. He's begging for someone to come forward and say that it was not true. I would caution you, Seán, at this stage, that you're in very murky waters.'

Gallagher rejected the cash-in-envelopes association. ‘I have never been involved in that culture.' He then asked McGuinness to give the name and background of the man he had spoken to about the fund-raiser, before explaining:

But McGuinness cut across him, saying he had called to the man's house to collect a cheque for €5,000.

‘That's not correct,' said Gallagher.

‘I have to say you're in deep, deep trouble,' said McGuinness, with a wide smile.

Moving the debate on, Kenny put the same question to all the candidates: would you resign if anything was to come out subsequent to your election that was concealed and that would have affected the outcome of the election? One by one they all said they would resign rather than put the country through an impeachment process.

Higgins affirmed that, yes, he would, and then, looking a little bemused, added to laughter: ‘But it's a hypothetical question.'

However, Norris drew the biggest laughs to the same question when he responded with a grin: ‘After exhaustive scrutiny by various sources, I'm sorry to disappoint the Irish nation, but the closet is absolutely empty.'

Norris had returned to form as a witty conversationalist and a good debater, interjecting with telling comments. The defensive fixed grin that he wore previously as he was quizzed about the clemency letters had gone; the race had moved on and he was enjoying the theatre of the ‘Frontline' programme, reminding observers of his jolly persona when he entered the race.

In the same programme, when McGuinness was asked about his suitability for the role of President he spoke about how Irish he was, saying that Derry was as Irish as Cork. He began to reel off his political achievements—Minister of Education, Deputy First Minister—before Norris interrupted to ask, to much audience merriment, would those roles contrarily affect his bid for the role?

The focus was to turn to Gallagher again when a woman in the front row of the audience asked about his suitability for the job, ‘given the trail of misunderstandings, accountancy errors and improper business practices that seem to have littered your career,' and suggested that his refusal to answer questions ‘might bring the Presidency into disrepute at some point in the future?'

Gallagher was direct. All his business dealing were 100 per cent above board, he said.

The woman, Glenna Lynch, said that a cheque for €89,829 that had rested in his personal account should have been in a company account.

‘Not so,' countered Gallagher.

‘How does someone mislay a cheque for €89,000?' asked Kenny.

Lynch asked, ‘Who was the client? Where did it come from?' As Gallagher tried to respond, she dismissed his explanations. ‘Seán, you know that makes absolutely no sense.'

Gallagher explained that it was not a cheque from a speaking engagement but for one of his other businesses. It had been made out to the wrong account. The bookkeeper's secretary had put it into the account named on the cheque, and when his accountant's firm spotted it, in less than four weeks it was transferred to the correct account. No breach of company law took place, he asserted.

Gallagher went on to say that he was 100 per cent compliant as regards taxes and and had posted his certificate from the Revenue Commissioners online.

Kenny moved the debate on, addressing the theme of McGuinness's campaign, his
IRA
membership and the murderous actions of the
IRA
, referring to the murder of Jean McConville.

In December 1972 Jean McConville, a mother of ten young children, was abducted from her home by the
IRA
. She was shot in the head and her body secretly buried across the border on a beach in Co. Louth. Her children were taken into care by the local authority. The
IRA
claimed she had used a radio transmitter to pass information to British forces, a claim her children consistently denied. An investigation by the Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland also rejected these claims.

Twenty years later the
IRA
gave information about where her body was buried. A prolonged search co-ordinated by the Garda Síochána was abandoned when no body could be found in the area specified. In August 2003 her body was accidentally found by members of the public while they were walking on Shelling Hill Beach, near Dundalk.

The
Evening Herald
's television critic, Pat Stacey, summed up McGuinness's response to Kenny's questions, saying he simply unravelled when he found himself staring down the barrel of a direct question: Did he regard the
IRA
killings in Northern Ireland as murder or casualties of war?

Reintroducing the programme after the second commercial break, Kenny questioned Gallagher.

Gallagher began by saying he had always tried to stay above negative campaigning and went on to start saying he understood, only for Kenny to ask him, ‘You know who it is?'

Gallagher said yes, that he was a fuel-smuggler, a convicted criminal and someone with links to Sinn Féin and who had been investigated by the Criminal Assets Bureau.

‘I don't want to get involved in this. I don't believe—' said Gallagher, who was interrupted and shouted down by the audience.

‘Did you get a cheque from this guy or not?' asked Kenny.

‘I have no recollection of getting a cheque from this guy. I can tell you—let me explain this very simply. I explained that there were two or three people that I asked. I don't know the man very well that's in question. So—'

Kenny cut across him in an incredulous tone: ‘You went to a fuel-smuggler's house and invited him to a Fianna Fáil do?'

As Gallagher explained that he had been asked to contact local businessmen, McGuinness again repeated his charge.

‘What I have done—I may well have delivered the photograph, if he gave me an envelope …' Gallagher attempted to say, before the audience interrupted him, jeering and hooting with laughter. He continued: ‘If he gave me the cheque it was made out to Fianna Fáil headquarters and it was delivered, and that was that. It was nothing to do with me.'

‘That's a clear admission of what I said earlier,' responded McGuinness.

Gallagher also made it clear that he was unaware of the background of the man—later named as Hugh Morgan—at the time of the fund-raiser.

Kenny did a round robin of the candidates, canvassing their views. Higgins replied that the matter needed to be clarified as a matter of urgency. Mitchell reverted to type and won audience approval: ‘I already said that Seán should take the opportunity to clear this up, but I do think it's a bit much for Sinn Féin to be twittering or tweeting when Martin says he's not even a Sinn Féin candidate: we can't get that much out of Martin.' Norris was asked if he had a view. ‘Not much,' he responded with deadpan humour. ‘Except I think perhaps the reference to the envelope is a bit unfortunate,' to roars of laughter.

After the programme Sinn Féin denied it had issued any tweet, saying that it would produce the man who had spoken to McGuinness by phone and that it had informed him of the allegations about Gallagher's fund-raising.

The
Irish Independent
reported McGuinness as saying that the infamous Galway tent fund-raiser was now a thing of the past and that the meet-and-greet dinner event was the new method of raising funds.

In
RTE
's pre- and post-programme hospitality ‘green' room Gallagher's media adviser recognised that his client was, in the words of McGuinness, in deep, deep trouble.

Chapter
15
   
THE GOING

E
nda Kenny woke up on the day after the ‘Frontline' debate to discover that he was still the country's favourite. The post-election honeymoon was clearly still on as his satisfaction ratings increased by one point, bringing him to a record 52 per cent.

The latest
Irish Times
/Ipsos/
MRBI
opinion poll would not reflect the impact of the ‘Frontline' debate, as it was taken on the previous Wednesday and Thursday. Fine Gael topped the poll, with 36 per cent, up one point; the Labour Party picked up two points, to poll 19 per cent; Sinn Féin dropped three points, to 15 per cent; there was the same showing for Fianna Fáil, which had fallen one point; independents were up two points, to 14 per cent; and the Green Party dropped from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. Satisfaction with the coalition Government also nudged upwards by one point, to 37 per cent.

While the news for Kenny and his Government was good, the poll showed what could have been. The party vote was not transferring to Mitchell, the dream of the Áras was slipping away, and there were only days to go before the polling-stations opened.

The
Evening Herald
's man on the sofa, Pat Stacey, scored the candidates in the game-changing ‘Frontline' debate. Norris was the winner among the candidates, he said, awarding him 6 out of 10, saying he was witty and erudite and showed his sparkle of old—and made the point that opinion polls can become self-fulfilling prophecies.

Mary Davis was a good second at 5 out of 10. Stacey commented:

McGuinness was Gallagher's main tormentor, he said, and ‘kept him wriggling on the hook.' But with McGuinness having fallen back on well-rehearsed routines about the ‘conflict' and then saying, ‘I can bring myself to say the family of Jean McConville believes she was murdered,' Stacey gave him 4 out of 10.

Gallagher looked stiff and uneasy, and questions about his association with Fianna Fáil and with Charlie Haughey, and about how he left over €80,000 resting in an account, left him ‘looking rattled and unconvincing.' Gallagher dealing with the cheque allegations—saying the cheque was made out to Fianna Fáil head office and that it was delivered to them and had nothing to do with him—drew Stacey's comment ‘Oops, afraid it had, Seán,' and merited him 3 out of 10.

Higgins scored 6 out of 10 for a solid performance with charm and self-deprecating quips about his age, while Mitchell scored 2 out of 10 and Dana nil.

The winner was—Pat Kenny. Awarding him 10 out of 10, Stacey said Kenny ‘might be to light entertainment what Derek Mooney is to cage-fighting. But when he's in his proper setting Kenny is the best
TV
current affairs broadcaster we have.'

Fianna Fáil issued a statement on Tuesday confirming that it received a donation of €5,000 from Mr Morgan before the Crowne Plaza event took place. The dinner raised less than €100,000, and Mr Morgan's cheque, dated 26 June, was lodged to the party account on 30 June of that year. It refused to elaborate on who else gave donations at the fund-raiser that Gallagher helped organise. Previously, asked about the fund-raiser attended by the then Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, Micheál Martin declined to comment, stating: ‘We're not involved in this presidential campaign.'

Meanwhile the bookies had been gauging the public mood, on the grounds that the public put their money where their mouth was. One punter put €6,500 on Higgins to win after the ‘Frontline' debate, forcing Paddy Power to reduce their odds, from 11:10 to evens. The morning after the debate more money piled onto Higgins, tightening his odds to 8:13 and pushing the former favourite, Gallagher, from odds on to 6:5. Higgins moved to 8:13 (from 5:2) on Monday, Gallagher 6:5 (from 1:4), McGuinness 25:1 (from 50:1) and Norris 33:1 (from 66:1). Mitchell, Davis and Dana were offered at 300:1.

Since the election campaign had begun, money had moved onto different candidates in significant amounts as the political dynamic unfolded, resulting in five changes at the top of the presidential betting since the start of the year.

On the news-stands the music magazine
Hot Press
came out with a significant and expected endorsement of Higgins. He was an old friend of the magazine's founder, Niall Stokes, and had contributed a column to the magazine for years.

It also published an interview with Mitchell, who remained on message throughout, returning to the main points of his launch speech, his upbringing and his political career, and he revisited the death-penalty issue. He also denied that he had attacked McGuinness, saying he had asked three reasonable questions: when did he leave the
IRA
, why does he say he's not the Sinn Féin candidate and what is the status of his salary and his industrial wage. According to Mitchell, all the candidates

It was a familiar statement that he used again and again to justify an expected surge in poll support.

‘You said you wouldn't put much trust in polls, but Fine Gael conduct polls. So are any of them believable?' asked Jackie Hayden, who conducted the interview.

‘But you're not doing well in the poll, so what's the explanation for that?' asked Hayden.

 

On Tuesday morning Gallagher was prepared and on his way to the
RTE
studios for his turn as a candidate for a scheduled interview with Pat Kenny. It was both an opportunity to clear up the questions raised on the previous evening's ‘Frontline' programme and a valuable opportunity to have the last word in a one-to-one interview. It was another high-wire act, with the potential to win back lost ground or to compound a problem. Three opinion polls still showed him firm favourite, and that morning's
Irish Times
poll gave him comfort, showing that Fine Gael supporters were unwilling to transfer their support for the Government to Mitchell.

It was fight-back time. Gallagher would say he was the victim of a smear campaign, but time was running out for patching up the damage inflicted on him in the previous evening's television debate. The exchange had shown him fudging as he changed his story while under pressure from McGuinness and in response to a Sinn Féin tweet that it would produce a witness.

On air, Kenny replayed part of the previous evening's programme and asked Gallagher if he'd like to comment.

Gallagher confirmed that he had been contacted by a journalist the previous week making inquiries about the fund-raiser and went on to say that he realised as soon as he began topping the poll that he would come under political attack. Sinn Féin had set out to sabotage his campaign, he claimed.

Kenny wondered how he could not have been prepared for such questions, having got advance notice the previous week of such a line of inquiry. Gallagher said that Sinn Féin was orchestrating a hatchet job, but that any cheque he may have received would have been sent straight to Fianna Fáil head office, and he referred to the Fianna Fáil statement issued that morning. He said his lack of recollection was an honest mistake and also emphasised that the Fianna Fáil fund-raising event was legal.

Gallagher was clearly spooked by the way the campaign had turned and felt the pressure mounting. He broadened his attack to include a member of the studio audience, specifically the woman in the front row who had confronted him about his business dealings. He challenged Kenny:

Kenny assured him to the contrary. The woman had rung the show's office earlier in the morning to assure them that she had no political connections, he said. He then played a clip from the previous evening's programme and asked Gallagher to respond.

It was a question, with hindsight, he shouldn't have asked live on air; he should have stuck to the lawyer's adage that you never ask a question if you don't already know the answer.

Clarification came, almost instantly, when Glenna Lynch rang in to the show.

If jaws dropping around the country could have made a sound it would have been a deafening roar. It was to make for unmissable, unpredictable radio.

She said she had emailed ‘The Frontline' a list of questions, and a researcher had contacted her and asked if she'd come onto the programme and ask a question from the audience. ‘I could have asked him questions for two hours,' she said.

She accused Gallagher of receiving ‘extraordinary and probably unprecedented state funding' and that ‘in the course of that money flowing into your company, yourself and your partner basically raided the coffers.'

‘Not so,' said Gallagher, firmly denying the accusation, saying he had always acted with integrity and honesty. ‘I stand over everything I have done as being impeccable with honesty and integrity. I absolutely refute any allegations that will be framed in such a way as to make me, my company or my integrity to be undermined in any way.'

He complained that his time was eaten into in dealing with the controversies and that he believed Kenny should have allowed him time to outline the vision he had for addressing the issues.

After the program Lynch explained:

She revealed that she was a former Fianna Fáil voter, until the second-last general election, when she changed her allegiance. She said she now intended voting for Higgins in the presidential election.