The tribunal report into corrupt payments to the former planning official George Redmond has been passed to the Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr James Hamilton, and was also being examined last night by the Garda Síochána.
The report by the former tribunal chairman, Mr Justice Flood, said Redmond received four corrupt payments and made repeated efforts to obstruct the tribunal.
The judge said the tribunal's work was repeatedly hindered by the property developer Mr Joseph Murphy jnr, and the builder Mr Michael Bailey, who made corrupt payments to Redmond.
Mr Justice Flood's report was published as it emerged yesterday that the DPP had requested the delay of separate hearings by the tribunal into the rezoning of Quarryvale, west Dublin.
The tribunal's current chairman, Judge Alan Mahon, said the delay was sought due to unrelated criminal proceedings against Redmond.
With Redmond convicted last November on corruption charges not linked to the cases before the tribunal, the way is clear for the investigation into Quarryvale to begin early in March. Mr Justice Flood's latest report was not published until yesterday for the same reason.
The Quarryvale hearings will come in the run-up to the local and European elections in June. The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, is among a number of senior Fianna Fáil figures likely to be called in hearings about a series of allegations by the developer Mr Tom Gilmartin.
Mr Ahern indicated last night that he would co-operate with the tribunal if asked.
When asked by The Irish Times if he would be giving evidence in the Quarryvale module, he said: "I haven't an idea." He added: "But you know my attitude to tribunals. I co-operate with them all. If they ask me, they ask me. But they haven't asked me."
George Redmond is serving a 12-month sentence for a conviction in November.
The former senior planner now faces the prospect of more criminal proceedings in relation to the affairs examined by the tribunal.
He also faces two additional cases unlinked to the tribunal report.
Mr Justice Flood said that Redmond had been secretly receiving "regular and substantial payments" from builders and developers for more than 28 years.
Redmond received corrupt payments from Mr Murphy and Mr Bailey in the final years of his career as assistant city and county manager with Dublin County Council, he said.
Redmond, Mr Murphy and Mr Bailey were each found to have obstructed the tribunal by giving false accounts of their activities and failing to tell the truth about what they had done.
Another person, Mr Frank Reynolds, was found to have hindered the tribunal's work by failing to acknowledge his presence at a meeting attended by Redmond, Mr Murphy and Mr Bailey.
That meeting was also attended by Mr James Gogarty, the retired businessman and former garda whose allegations against Redmond were upheld by Mr Justice Flood.
Mr Gogarty was chairman of Joseph Murphy Structural Engineering, the company owned by Mr Murphy's father, Mr Joseph Murphy snr. The judge said Redmond invented a counter-allegation about Mr Gogarty to give him an "alternative explanation" for his receipt of Murphy company money.
He said Mr Murphy gave Redmond at least £12,246 after he developed a scheme that enabled the company to pay reduced service charges and levies on its lands in north Co Dublin at Forrest Road, Swords.
Mr Bailey gave £16,000 to £20,000 to Redmond in three cash payments in 1988 and 1989. Redmond gave information to Mr Bailey which was not available to him from other sources.
Labour's spokesman on the environment, Mr Eamon Gilmore, said people in many parts of Dublin were still suffering from bad planning decisions "that we now know were, in some cases, made on the basis of corrupt payments".
For Fine Gael, Mr Bernard Allen said the report "should send out a strong signal that nothing less than full co-operation with the tribunal is acceptable".
The first module of the Quarryvale module will deal with Mr Gilmartin's allegation that he gave the former EU Commissioner Mr Padraig Flynn a cheque for £50,000 in June 1989.
Mr Gilmartin claims the money was for Fianna Fáil but the party says it never got it. Mr Flynn has yet to explain his version of events.
A link to the full text of the third interim report of the planning tribunal is available on the ireland.com homepage or at: http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/special/2004/planning/thirdreport.pdf