Flood report analysis: Through no fault of its own, the report into George Redmond's corruption is too little, too late, writes Paul Cullen.
The latest and last report from Mr Justice Feargus Flood barely scratches the surface of George Redmond's role in planning corruption over a 48-year working career in Dublin Corporation and Dublin County Council.
The report identifies just one corrupt deal involving the former assistant Dublin city and county manager, three corrupt payments which cannot be tied into any particular decision he made, and one "inducement" which falls outside the scope of the tribunal's investigations.
There is no mention of Redmond's 20-year relationship with builders Brennan and McGowan which, by his own account, saw the former official receive over £250,000 "in dribs and drabs" from Mr Tom Brennan. This builder, deemed corrupt in his own dealings with Mr Ray Burke, claimed implausibly that the money came from winning bets he placed on horses with his own money on behalf of Redmond.
Neither is there any reference to the deceased builder Mr Matt Gallagher, with whom he had a fruitful and financially beneficial relationship in the 1970s. Redmond himself admits he got £10,000 to £15,000 from Mr Gallagher, who also paid for him to go on holidays to Majorca.
Missing too from this report are Mr Tom Roche senior of National Toll Roads, from whom he got £15,000, and the hotelier P.V. Doyle, who used to throw money at Redmond at Christmas-time.
The corrupt payments covered in this report amount to a maximum of £32,000; compare this to the £1,051,360 in assets the tribunal says he accumulated between 1971 and 1998. As the report points out, Redmond's net salary on his retirement in 1989 was just £19,000.
The report gives some inkling of how Redmond operated, such as the way he provided expert advice that saved developers money, usually at the cost of the taxpayer. In the Forrest Road deal, for example, he saved the Murphy group about £200,000 by ensuring that the development levies they paid in 1988 were pegged at 1983 levels.
In his evidence to the tribunal, Redmond had claimed the council's acquisition of Ward Valley Park in Swords from developer Mr Michael Bailey as "a feather in my cap" at the end of a long career. In fact, the council ended up paying £57,000 instead of the £14,000 this swampy land was valued at. No wonder Mr Bailey was so generous to him.
The tribunal's third interim report follows the same style and format of its highly-acclaimed predecessor, even down to the black cover and €1 price-tag.
It has the same precision of language and the same lack of detail. However, its 21 pages could - and probably were - written years ago.
It also prompts the same doubts as to whether the material would sustain a criminal conviction. In Redmond's case, this doesn't matter so much now, following his conviction on corruption charges brought by the Criminal Assets Bureau last November.
However, 16 months after Mr Justice Flood's last report found that Ray Burke and others had hindered and frustrated the tribunal, nothing has been heard from the DPP in relation to possible charges.
The delay caused by the criminal proceedings against Redmond was outside the tribunal's control, but it does beg questions as to why two arms of the State - the tribunal and CAB - were getting in each other's way so damagingly. The tribunal effectively wound up its investigations into Redmond shortly after CAB became involved, and there is no sign that it intends to delve once more into his murky past.
Redmond, of course, still pops up in other people's stories and even this week, the tribunal was hearing new accounts of the influence he wielded on behalf of developers - a piece of advice here, a confidential map there, a wayleave over yonder.
But with no sign of contrition on his part, it seems the full story of George Redmond's misdeeds may never be revealed.