The letter from the chairman of the Mahon, formerly Flood, planning tribunal, Judge Alan Mahon, to the Clerk of the Dáil, Kieran Coughlan, yesterday would indicate that there is difficulty, to put it mildly, between the Government and the most controversial judicial inquiry established by the Houses of the Oireachtas.
In an unusual development, Judge Mahon was moved to write a letter which was made public to advise the Oireachtas that the Minister for Justice's estimate of €1 billion suggested as the likely final costs of the tribunal had not emanated from them and that the final cost of its deliberations should be about €300 million.
It is reasonable for the Government to seek some clarity from the Mahon tribunal concerning a completion date for its work and the extent of its remaining inquiries. After all, the Oireachtas, not the Government, is responsible to the electorate for the costs of the tribunal. The Tánaiste and Minister for Justice Michael McDowell has indicated the final bill, including third-party costs, may exceed €1 billion. It is imperative, however, that investigations into planning corruption involving Ministers, TDs, senior officials and councillors should be ended in an orderly manner.
Powerful commercial interests have done their best to obstruct the work of the Flood/Mahon tribunal, more than any other, and a number of challenges are still before the courts. Even when formal hearings got under way, a lack of co-operation by witnesses and the presence of a phalanx of lawyers generated interminable delays and mounting costs. Such determined resistance and disruptive behaviour cannot be allowed to succeed. Democracy and the rule of law would be diminished in such circumstances.
From evidence given by lobbyist Frank Dunlop, it is clear that builders and developers made payments to local politicians as a matter of course. There is little to be gained from investigating each of those incidents in minute detail, unless those accused of corruption insist upon being heard. The Quarryvale module is, however, a special case. This large-scale development has generated allegations of corruption at the highest level and its elements overlap other planning components. It requires close examination.
There is a difficulty. The Oireachtas established the Flood/Mahon tribunal with such broad terms of reference that it has vindicated its existence. The Government has a problem. A robust attempt to contain tribunal costs at this late stage could be misconstrued and cause political damage in an election year. Three years ago it announced a unilateral reduction in legal fees, due to take effect at the end of next month and expected to coincide with completion of the tribunal's work. But those investigations grind on.
What has to be remembered, 10 years on, is the challenge to the planning tribunal on its establishment, the coterie of senior barristers, public relations consultants and spin doctors who wanted to stop its work.