Mahon tribunal adjourns until after general election

Judt

Another good reason to have called the election when he did?

Planning tribunal chairman Judge Alan Mahon has adjourned proceedings until after the general election.

In a short statement issued this morning, Judge Mahon said he was following the precedent set by other tribunals and would not call witnesses until after the election.

The tribunal will resume hearings on May 29th.

There was speculation that yesterday's announcement of the election date was related to the fact that the tribunal was due to open its public inquiry today into the Quarryvale affair.

The tribunal announced before Easter that it would begin its public session on Quarryvale today and would continue to sit in public until two weeks before the election. Mr Ahern, former partner Celia Larkin, and those known to have given him money in 1993/1994 were listed as witnesses at the tribunal.

In an interview in yesterday's Sunday Tribune, the Taoiseach indicated his unhappiness with the tribunal's plans. "All I can say is that the precedent since the foundation of the State has been that tribunals haven't sat during an election. I am not going to comment on something that I'm personally involved in. I'm just quoting what is the precedent," he said.

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny and Labour leader Pat Rabbitte said yesterday it was a matter for the tribunal to decide whether to proceed.

© 2007 ireland.com

Well I guess with FF that low in the polls... Irish politics. We've got rid of the gun, but the dirty tricks are as good as they ever were.

The_Minister

Judt wrote:

Another good reason to have called the election when he did?

If he wanted to keep allegations from coming out he would have called it a week ago. The recent story about the money to fix up the house would never have come out if he had.

Chakar

Also Bertie Ahern had no control or influence over the agenda of the tribunal as regards to the timing of the modules be it Quarryvale etc.

Avns1s

That slippy clown Bertie get's off the hook again. This is a disgrace. We should have known what we are voting for!

schween

People knew what they were voting for. Bertie has the stinch of a crooked politician...yet people vote him back! And then they complain!

Judt

Chakar wrote:

Also Bertie Ahern had no control or influence over the agenda of the tribunal as regards to the timing of the modules be it Quarryvale etc.

Except for precedent, and knowing what would happen when he did call it...

is_that_so

There's precedent and also the chance of a non-FF government which could have painted Mahon as " the man who put paid to a historic third term". It makes sense tbh as there would have been too much focus on Bertie, which is not how an election campaign should be run. As well as this it ensures that Mahon stays outside of politics.

Judt

is_that_so wrote:

There's precedent and also the chance of a non-FF government which could have painted Mahon as " the man who put paid to a historic third term". It makes sense tbh as there would have been too much focus on Bertie, which is not how an election campaign should be run. As well as this it ensures that Mahon stays outside of politics.

But if Mahon is investigating dodgy goings on in Irish politics, is that not relevant to the voters?

is_that_so

I think people will have to make up their own minds on this anyway. It's not as if Mahon is going anywhere, just another hiatus. It will be back to carry on its investigation. My point relates to the possible influence it might have had. It is investigating past deeds. Those deeds will still be past deeds in 4-6 weeks time.

There are many reasons why people might want to change governments. Much as I want this to happen, having a single issue hanging over the election, based on allegations, could have meant getting a new government simply because they weren't the government. And that'll be for five years. Adjourning also removes the very obvious temptation for negative campaigning, even though the story will run for a week at least.

DMC

In a general election, the broadcast media would have to keep an eye on how much air time each party gets in news bulletins. If the Mahon Tribunal came up with the massive relevations implied, RTÉ for one, would have a hard time reporting them, because one of the party leaders is the focus of this part of the enquiry.

The papers can do what they like, but more people watch and listen to TV and radio news than buy newspapers.

As I understand, politicians from other parties are going to give evidence too. It would have been grossly unfair if the Tribunal had continued, and some of those going into the election been unlucky enough to get called into it before polling say when others might have the good fortune to avoid this fate.

GabharBrean

Chakar wrote:

Also Bertie Ahern had no control or influence over the agenda of the tribunal as regards to the timing of the modules be it Quarryvale etc.

The Mahon Tribunal will have been going on for 10 years come October of this year. It has therefore worked through previous elections. This current suspension is obviously politically motivated. These tribunals have been nothing other than a cynical ploy to water down the actual events. Instead of putting out the big picture of political corruption, we are given small doses of "indiscretions", thus letting the same people who set up these tribunals off the hook.

If the tribunals wanted to get at the truth, they could have done so within a reasonable period. Instead the corrupt politician's careers have carried on and lawyers have been able to make a lucrative career out of them. The culprits will either be dead or retired by the time they end. Meanwhile, accountable democracy suffers another mortal wound.

brianthebard

Ten years?? Jesus, reminds me of the Chancery courts in Dickens. And we all know how well they worked out.

John_C

We've all known the date of the election to within a week or two for five years now. Bertie has only done what he always said he would.

oscarBravo

GabharBrean wrote:

The Mahon Tribunal will have been going on for 10 years come October of this year. It has therefore worked through previous elections.

But has it sat through previous election campaigns?

In other words, is there a precedent for the Tribunal holding hearings in the period between the dissolution of the Dáil and the subsequent General Election?

ballooba

John_C wrote:

We've all known the date of the election to within a week or two for five years now. Bertie has only done what he always said he would.

Actually Bertie said only last week that he was keeping his word on a summer election. Summer starts in June. He lied or he dithered. Neither is good.

John_C

ballooba wrote:

Actually Bertie said only last week that he was keeping his word on a summer election. Summer starts in June.

You don't feel like you're clutching at straws here?

ballooba

John_C wrote:

You don't feel like you're clutching at straws here?

No. You said "Bertie has only done what he always said he would" when in fact he has done the exact opposite.

DublinDilbert

The_Minister wrote:

If he wanted to keep allegations from coming out he would have called it a week ago. The recent story about the money to fix up the house would never have come out if he had.

Ummm this is the house that in october he told us he paid full market value for, but tonight on the news they were "alleging" that he was given it in a will??

30K STG in the early 1990's was alot of money to "do-up" a house?? them house can't of been more than a few years old at the time too, so i can't see why someone would spend about 1/2 the actual cost of the house doing it up??

Is it just me or does something seem strange? I'm open to correct on the above if anyone has any info.. .

Glenbhoy

oscarBravo wrote:

But has it sat through previous election campaigns?

In other words, is there a precedent for the Tribunal holding hearings in the period between the dissolution of the Dáil and the subsequent General Election?

The Mahon/Flood tribunal has never sat in the run-up to an election, but that was because they were held up by JR's etc during the last election, they said themselves that they would suspend 2 weeks before the current election, as is they suspended 10 days early. There are arguments both ways, personally, I think it would have made more sense for Mahon to have sat today, given that Frank Connolly broke a fair bit of what they were presumably going to say today, it would have been appropriate I think to clear up the innuendo etc and tell exactly what they would be investigating in this module.
One other thing, Bertie said today it was all irrelevant and appropriate etc to be getting money from Wall, if that were the case why would the tribunal be investigating it? They don't make a habit of dragging people in for no reason, and at this stage all of the people whom Bertie dragged in as his alibi's last September are going to have to testify and face cross examination - will it stand up???
As someone else pointed out on politics.ie today, this is probably the final nail in FF's election hopes, as we've already discussed, Labour will probably be in the position of kingmakers, the tribunal however will start just after the election again, if the revelations are what people expect, FF will be untouchable (and Joe Higgins and his Independents will hold the key:D )

Glenbhoy

DublinDilbert wrote:

Ummm this is the house that in october he told us he paid full market value for, but tonight on the news they were "alleging" that he was given it in a will??

30K STG in the early 1990's was alot of money to "do-up" a house?? them house can't of been more than a few years old at the time too, so i can't see why someone would spend about 1/2 the actual cost of the house doing it up??

Is it just me or does something seem strange? I'm open to correct on the above if anyone has any info.. .

He stood to get the house in a will, however he did pay for it as the owner of the house did not die! (Incidentally, if he had predeceased the owner, then the property was to go Mr. Ahern's children!).
The 30K was allegedly spent on stamp duty and refurbishments, so whilst celia lodged the money into her account, she was simply doing the owner of the house a favour, she then discharged the stamp duty and paid for the refurb with the money in her account, which did not belong to her - at least that's my understanding of it all.
At least, given the complexity of his own financial dealings, we can be assured that our finance minister must have been easily able to comprehend the complexities of high finance, you know, swaps, futures.......

Jonny Arson

What a relief that the Mahon tribunal has been adjourned during the election, we still have an election!

if any revelations of Bertie stealing €40m from orphaned African children and nuking those poor newborn puppies had come out Fíanna Fáil would be on 85% in the next opinion poll sailing towards 140 seats!

GabharBrean

Glenbhoy wrote:

The Mahon/Flood tribunal has never sat in the run-up to an election, but that was because they were held up by JR's etc during the last election,

As far as I can tell there was no suspension of then Flood Tribunal. An Irish Examiner report, during the 2002 general election , points out that the appointment of three new judges (Mahon included) took place in the midst of the campaign. There had been fears that this would not happen, but these fears were not realised.

Not so this time. I was also subsequently surprised to find out that it wasn't just Durty Burty and FF members whose fingers were caught in the cookie jar but also FG's.

Glenbhoy

GabharBrean wrote:

As far as I can tell there was no suspension of then Flood Tribunal. An Irish Examiner report, during the 2002 general election , points out that the appointment of three new judges (Mahon included) took place in the midst of the campaign. There had been fears that this would not happen, but these fears were not realised.

Not so this time. I was also subsequently surprised to find out that it wasn't just Durty Burty and FF members whose fingers were caught in the cookie jar but also FG's.

The tribunal didn't suspend because it wasn't actually sitting at that time - as I say it was probably held up with or other of the judicial reviews that it has had to face over the years.
Re FG's and tribunals, oh yes, corruption has touched the lot of them - Rabbitte has been before Mahon as well you know, though for a classic FG one shouldn't look beyond Lowry!!

GabharBrean

Glenbhoy wrote:

The tribunal didn't suspend because it wasn't actually sitting at that time - as I say it was probably held up with or other of the judicial reviews that it has had to face over the years.
Re FG's and tribunals, oh yes, corruption has touched the lot of them - Rabbitte has been before Mahon as well you know, though for a classic FG one shouldn't look beyond Lowry!!

Fair enough. Didn't know about Rabbitte. Get's interestinger and interestinger.