SO WHAT will the Price Waterhouse report show when - and if - it is published? At this stage, sources believe the Government will be able to publish some of the report's contents.
An agreement to publish would probably involve using an intermediary - possibly a judge or other independent person - to adjudicate on which parts of the report should be published in the public interest and which should not.
As well as deciding what portions of the report should be published, Government officials, Dunnes Stores and Price Waterhouse must also decide how to sort out legal liability should anybody named in the report decide to sue. Some kind of indemnity from the Government may have to be granted.
The route of negotiating with Dunnes was taken because Government officials believed it would be more effective than trying to use some powers under company law to investigate.
The much discussed list of names, even if it does not tell the full story, is likely to lead to much debate. Sources say that it contains a number of public officials in local government, the publication of whose names is likely to raise important questions about the conduct of public policy. The Government is likely to have some days before the report is published to decide upon its response.
Price Waterhouse also examined the transactions which led to Mr Lowry's resignation as a Minister and, as reported earlier this week, the lodgements of over £1 million into a London bank account which the accountants concluded were to a leading Fianna Fail figure.
However it is not clear how much of this information is contained in the report that the Government is considering publishing, and how much in supporting documentation.
Price Waterhouse is understood to have completed two interim and a final report for Dunnes, as well as providing the organisation with associated documentation on the deals examined.
Government sources say the fair has raised two major policy questions. One surrounds the issue of the funding of political parties, which is to be dealt with in a new Bill currently being considered. But the other is the equally problematic area of the relationship between business and politics.
If the names of public officials who received funds from Dunnes Stores are published, then issue will provide considerable difficulties for the Government and generate a new aspect to the controversy.
