LIVELINE Thread - (05/10/11 to 14/02/2012)

'THE Moriarty Tribunal is expected to say that Charles Haughey did political favours in return for the huge sums of cash given to him by businessman Ben Dunne. The tribunal is expected to conclude that the former Taoiseach set up a meeting between Mr Dunne and the former chairman of the Revenue Commissioners, Seamus Pairceir, in return for the cash given to him by Mr Dunne'

'Mr Pairceir did not tell the McCracken Tribunal about the meeting because he did not regard Mr Haughey's request as constituting a representation or a submission - the words used in a letter written to him by that tribunal in 1997.
Mr Haughey made the request of Mr Pairceir, the then-chairman of the Revenue Commissioners, within a month of his becoming Taoiseach in 1987.
Mr Pairceir told the Moriarty Tribunal that he could recall the former Taoiseach asking him to meet Mr Dunne but that he could recall nothing else about the request.
Mr Pairceir could not remember why he had reduced a tax bill from the Dunne Trust by IR£62,000.
But he presumed it was to speed up payment - which at IR£3.6m was an enormous sum, particularly at a time when the Exchequer was short of funds.
After Mr Pairceir retired from the Revenue in 1988, he was asked to do some work for Mr Dunne and was paid IR£10,000.
There was no code stopping retired Revenue officials working in the private sector at that time, said Mr Pairceir.
Asked if Mr Dunne had ever indicated he was hoping Mr Pairceir would reveal judgments formed by the Revenue on the Dunnes Trust case, Mr Pairceir said he had not been asked to and had not conferred any favours on the trust'