Bertie Ahern faces political disgrace, a fate he doesn't deserve given his achievements on the economy and on Northern Ireland. But his explanations for the huge lodgements to his bank accounts are now not credible. And the discovery of building society accounts suggest not just that he got large sums of money from unknown sources but also that monies were diverted from the Fianna Fail coffers.
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Bertie's banker, Philip Murphy, gave evidence to the Planning Tribunal in November. The evidence revealed even more curious aspects to the Taoiseach's financial affairs, including evidence that Bertie Ahern handed over to his banker IR£72,500 in cash from December 1993 to August 1994
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Frank Dunlop's evidence has been the cornerstone of the Planning Tribunal's proceedings now for several years but it is now evident that he has continued to lie to the Tribunal long after is infamous “confession” to the former chairman, Feargus Flood and his recent story of having bought part of a racehorse in 1992 for £20,000 is clearly literally incredible. Given that his credibility is not close to rock-bottom, the issue arises, what plausibility can the Tribunal attribute to any of his allegations about councillors being bribed? 

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The Moriarty Tribunal has cost €30 million to date but that is before costs are awarded to witnesses who appeared before the tribunal. The final bill is likely to be around €50m. The Planning Tribunal's final costs are likely to be well in excess of €100m.  And almost every single cent of this goes to lawyers.

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The finances crisis from Bertie Ahern now threatens to destroy his career, even though this is not yet publicly appreciated. For evidence is emerging that he got far more money when he was Minister for Finance than so far has been disclosed unravels Bertie Ahern's yarn-spinning. By Vincent Browne

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A number of revelations about the conduct of the Planning Tribunal must put the future and past proceedings of the tribunal in doubt Add a comment

The acknowledgement that private interviews were recorded is potentially terminal for the tribunal . In his judgement on 27 April last on an application by Hazel Lawlor, widow of Liam Lawlor, for a “stay” on the present hearings of the Mahon Tribunal , a judge of the High Court, Iarfhlaith O'Neill, noted: “The Court was told that apart from a tape-recording made by Mr Noel Smith, solicitor, of an interview with a client of his (Tom Gilmartin) and which was furnished to the Tribunal , no other electronic recording was made or kept by the tribunal ”. Add a comment

Village has submitted the following questions to the Planning Tribunal. At the time of going to print no response was forthcoming. In the event that the tribunal does respond to the questions we will publish the response in full in the next issue of Village. Add a comment