THE MAHON TRIBUNAL’S final report into planning corruption and payments to politicians will be published tomorrow morning, TheJournal.ie understands.
The Tribunal of Inquiry Into Certain Planning Matters and Payments was established almost 15 years ago and is the longest running tribunal in the history of the State. It is expected to cost as much as €300 million when final legal bills are settled.
The publication date of the final report has been the subject of much speculation in recent weeks. This evening, RTÉ political correspondent David Davin Power told the Six One News that a government source had confirmed to him the report would be published tomorrow.
TheJournal.ie has been able to confirm separately with a source close to the tribunal that its final report will be published tomorrow morning. It is expected to go live on the Mahon Tribunal’s website at 10am.
On Tuesday night, Village magazine tweeted to say the report would be published at 10am on Thursday.
Later Politics.ie noted that the magazine, previously owned by broadcaster and journalist Vincent Browne, is now published by Michael Smith, who, along with barrister Colm MacEochaidh, initially offered a IRL£10,000 reward for information that would lead to convictions for planning corruption.
The tribunal, which was initially chaired by Judge Feargus Flood and later Judge Alan Mahon, has spent the past 15 years investigating allegations of corrupt payments to politicians for the rezoning of land for development in the Dublin area.
The report is expected to deal extensively with the financial affairs of former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern who was forced to resign in 2008 amid ongoing controversy over evidence he gave to the tribunal concerning payments from developer Owen O’Callaghan.
Ahern has consistently denied any wrongdoing but questions were raised after his evidence was contradicted during the proceedings.
The report’s publication will come on the first anniversary of the publication of the Moriarty Tribunal’s final report into payments to politicians and related matters. That report was heavily critical of former government minister Michael Lowry.
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