Editing Ray Burke (Irish politician) (section)

==Corruption allegations==
Within months of his appointment as Minister for Foreign Affairs, allegations resurfaced that Burke had received [[IR£]]80,000 from a [[property developer]] regarding the former [[Dublin County Council]].<ref name=Flood_2nd_interim_report>{{cite web|url=http://www.flood-tribunal.ie/images/Report.pdf|title=Introduction to second Interim Report|date=19 April 2002|work=Flood Tribunal|access-date=15 December 2004|archive-date=24 December 2004|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041224014203/http://www.flood-tribunal.ie/images/Report.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> Burke denied the allegations but resigned from the cabinet and the Dáil, on 7 October 1997, after just four months in office. This allegation led to the setting up of the [[Mahon Tribunal|Planning Tribunal]] chaired by Justice [[Feargus Flood]]. In an interim report of the Tribunal, Flood judged Burke to be "corrupt".<ref name=Flood_2nd_interim_report/>

After Burke's re-election in 1989, he had made it clear in interviews that he believed that [[RTÉ]], the national broadcaster, was biased against him and Fianna Fáil in its election coverage, and several RTÉ employees reported that while off-air at RTÉ's election coverage, he remarked "I'm going to fucking screw RTÉ".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/S/0126/S.0126.199007120004.html |date=12 July 1990 |title=Seanad Éireann – Volume 126 – Broadcasting Bill, 1990: Second Stage. |publisher=Houses of the Oireachtas |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607132822/http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/S/0126/S.0126.199007120004.html |archive-date=7 June 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.imaginaryfutures.net/2007/01/20/broadcasting-and-national-identity-in-ireland-by-richard-barbrook/|author=Richard Barbrook|title=Broadcasting and the national identity in Ireland|year=2007|access-date=15 February 2013|archive-date=5 June 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120605020707/http://www.imaginaryfutures.net/2007/01/20/broadcasting-and-national-identity-in-ireland-by-richard-barbrook/|url-status=live}}</ref> After the election he was appointed Minister for Justice, while retaining the Communications brief.

Burke was responsible for controversial legislation that severely limited RTÉ's ability to collect advertising revenue and allowed for the establishment of a series of local radio stations and one independent national radio station, [[Century Radio]].<ref name=Flood_2nd_interim_report/> RTÉ were ordered to provide a national transmission service for Century Radio at a price that RTÉ complained was far below the economic cost of providing such a service. For example, they were required by the service level agreement to have engineers on standby covering the entire country 24 hours a day,<ref name=Flood_2nd_interim_report/> when the final payment for the entire transmission service was roughly equal to the salary for just one engineer.

Nevertheless, Century Radio failed to gain a significant audience share and closed in 1991. An interim report of the Flood Tribunal found as fact that the backers of Century Radio had paid large bribes to Burke to secure favourable ministerial decisions. One of the local stations established was [[98FM (Ireland)|98FM]] and in 2006 its owner, businessman [[Denis O'Brien]] won a record €750,000 damages from the Irish ''[[Daily Mirror]]'' which had claimed that O'Brien had paid a bribe of IR£30,000 to Burke to secure a licence for the station.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.finfacts.com/irelandbusinessnews/publish/article_10008203.shtml|title=Denis O'Brien wins record €750,000 in libel damages against the Mirror Group of Newspapers|publisher=Finfacts.ie|date=23 November 2006|access-date=4 January 2007|archive-date=27 September 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927002916/http://www.finfacts.com/irelandbusinessnews/publish/article_10008203.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref>