Taxpayers are facing a bill of more than €100m to cover the costs of outstanding tribunals and commissions of inquiry established by the Government, the Taoiseach has confirmed.

Almost €22m of taxpayers’ money will be spent by the end of the year on just six of the 15 investigations and tribunals that have been announced by Government.

THE Supreme Court has upheld a ruling preventing the Mahon tribunal from pursuing the estate of TD Liam Lawlor for legal costs.

BUSINESSMAN Denis O’Brien has commenced a High Court challenge against limitations imposed by the Moriarty tribunal on his legal team’s ability to question expert witness Professor Michael Andersen.

THE Moriarty tribunal was yesterday claimed to have given its legal team “a cloak of protection.”

THE Moriarty Tribunal will move into extra time next week in an effort to finish hearing evidence from its crucial final witness.

A FRUSTRATED Denis O’Brien upped his attack on the Moriarty Tribunal by declaring that hundreds of thousands of documents had been concealed from legal teams and insisted that lawyers for the inquiry needed to be sanctioned.

LAWYERS for the Moriarty tribunal have claimed that attempts were made to “wholly mislead” the inquiry about the role of former Fine Gael minister Michael Lowry in a number of property deals in Britain which have links to millionaire businessman, Denis O’Brien.

THE widow of a former associate of both Denis O’Brien and Michael Lowry has been called to give evidence to the Moriarty Tribunal today.

THE widow of a former associate of both Denis O’Brien and Michael Lowry has been called to give evidence to the Moriarty Tribunal today.

FINE GAEL made a complaint to SIPO in 2008 about former taoiseach Bertie Ahern, who was trying to fend off the Mahon Tribunal probe into his financial dealings at the time.

THE Moriarty Tribunal is expected to recall several senior civil servants who oversaw a competition to award the State’s second mobile phone licence to a consortium headed by millionaire businessman Denis O’Brien next month.

A BUSINESSMAN caught up in deals with former cabinet minister Michael Lowry was “paid off” to drop a series of actions amid an alleged bid to blackmail communications magnate Denis O’Brien, the Moriarty Tribunal heard yesterday.

AN English solicitor said he was “totally wrong” to have suggested in a letter that former Fine Gael minister Michael Lowry was involved in the purchase of Doncaster Rovers football club in 1998.

AN English solicitor who had previously refused to give evidence to the Moriarty Tribunal made a surprise appearance before a hastily convened sitting of the inquiry at Dublin Castle yesterday.

THE long-running Moriarty Tribunal, which concluded its work in May, may now have to hold further public hearings in 2009.

THE Mahon Tribunal into alleged planning corruption effectively ended after more than 10 years of investigation — and at a likely final cost of €300 million.

CORK developer Owen O’Callaghan has claimed his long-running dealings with the Mahon Tribunal over the past decade has had a devastating effect on himself and his family.

THE Mahon tribunal yesterday heard claims that ex-taoiseach Albert Reynolds was on the payroll of a top property developer branded as “outrageous fantasy”.

A NEW confidential system for reporting corruption or malpractice within An Garda Síochána has received at least three contacts from gardaí since it was set up last June.

THE state has paid out €12 million in civil cases related to Garda abuses investigated by the Morris tribunal.

GARDAÍ in Donegal did not have a mechanism to raise concerns about senior officers at the time of the scandals, the head of the largest Garda representative body has said.

THE tribunal has criticised two prominent politicians for the manner in which they handled unverified allegations against senior gardaí.

HARASSMENT. Appalling dereliction of duty. Terrible injustice. Endemic corruption. Shocking scandals.

CORK businessman Owen O’Callaghan dismissed suggestions that he handed over a total of £25,000 to two Dublin politicians on the same day 15 years ago because they had backed a big building project.

THE Mahon Tribunal heard yesterday about a businessman who believed he quit a property company in the mid-1990s only to find he was still listed as a director six years later.

BERTIE AHERN lodged £30,000 cash into his bank account a month after meeting property developer Owen O’Callaghan, the Mahon Tribunal heard yesterday.

Political Correspondent Shaun Connolly says the blade may be about to fall on Ahern.

FORMER taoiseach Bertie Ahern insisted he had never taken bribes as his role in plans for a national stadium came under the spotlight of the Mahon inquiry.

Political Correspondent Shaun Connolly asks is Hurricane Bertie in danger of blowing out.

A HIGH COURT decision yesterday means the Mahon tribunal cannot pursue claims against the late Liam Lawlor’s home and lands in Lucan, Co Dublin, in order to meet legal costs of more than €430,000 due to it by the late TD.

FORMER taoiseach Albert Reynolds will not be questioned by the Mahon tribunal as doctors say he is unfit to attend.

FORMER taoiseach Albert Reynolds wanted to give £75 million in lottery funds to a national stadium proposed by Cork developer Owen O’Callaghan in 1992, as long as the then finance minister Bertie Ahern agreed.

FORMER taoiseach Bertie Ahern is facing further questioning in the witness box at the Mahon tribunal in September, the Irish Examiner has learnt.

PROPERTY developer Owen O’Callaghan recalled the disaster that faced his massive building project for land in Co Dublin after local election results 17 years ago.

PROPERTY developer Owen O’Callaghan yesterday denied that his “doodling” on accounting documents linked £80,000 he paid to lobbyist Frank Dunlop to local elections and a key Dublin County Council vote in favour of a major planning project.

CORK businessman Owen O’Callaghan has denied he leaked information about the financial difficulties of another developer, Tom Gilmartin, to two newspapers in the early 1990s.

OWEN O’CALLAGHAN did not pay £30,000 to Bertie Ahern in connection with planning, an associate of the Cork developer told the Mahon tribunal.

CLAIMS by property developer Owen O’Callaghan that he had never met political lobbyist Frank Dunlop before February 1991 were undermined by evidence at the Mahon Tribunal yesterday.

CORK property developer Owen O’Callaghan has claimed he is unable to recall the purpose of two meetings he held with former Taoiseach Albert Reynolds in 1990.

CORK businessman Owen O’Callaghan has described an allegation that he paid £50,000 to former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern for assistance on a property development in west Dublin as “absolute and total rubbish”.

CORK developer Owen O’Callaghan admitted yesterday he had failed to inform gardaí about his knowledge of planning corruption, despite being aware of allegations of bribery against three politicians, including the late Liam Lawlor.

MAHON Tribunal lawyers yesterday expressed surprise that developer Owen O’Callaghan failed to ask Frank Dunlop if he had made paid bribes on his behalf after the political lobbyist admitted his role in planning corruption.

ONE of the country’s wealthiest developers was warned to avoid getting the late TD Liam Lawlor involved in his business, the Mahon Tribunal heard yesterday.

FIANNA FÁIL failed to defend former Taoiseach and party leader Bertie Ahern after a Fine Gael TD compared him to “drug dealers and pimps” in the Dáil.

CORK developer Owen O’Callaghan has denied he ever had any role in having the route of the tunnel under the River Lee moved to facilitate the development of a shopping centre in Mahon.

BERTIE AHERN is finished.

FORMER taoiseach Bertie Ahern has denied any suggestion that he used a Manchester-based businessman Michael Wall as a front to buy his home in Dublin in the mid-1990s.

AN Australia-based businessman has admitted surprise that Bertie Ahern repaid him money 13 years after he had contributed £2,500 to a “dig-out” for the former Taoiseach in the mid-1990s.

FORMER Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has defended telling the Mahon Tribunal earlier this year that he was unaware when his former partner, Celia Larkin, repaid a £30,000 loan to Fianna Fáil, even though he was in direct contact with her on the issue.