PORING over the eight-digit figure for the tribunal’s bills, you’d be forgiven for thinking that numerous third-party expenses which make it up were a type of algebra equation.

THE Mahon Tribunal is paying out more than three-quarters of expenses and costs being claimed by third parties, according to bills settled so far with individuals and companies.

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern was behind a £750,000 “golden handshake” to former foreign minister Ray Burke to persuade him to resign from the Cabinet a decade ago, it was claimed yesterday.

OVER 33 sometimes tedious, and more often entertaining, days in the witness box at Dublin Castle in 1999, James Gogarty achieved a fame that few octogenarians experience.

IF ever an Irish citizen could justly quote the lofty sentiments of Shakespeare’s Othello and say “I have done the State some service”, it was James Gogarty.

The whistleblower whose allegations against Ray Burke led to the establishment of the Planning Tribunal has reportedly died at the age of 88.

The Mahon Tribunal has awarded full costs to 10 parties who gave evidence during early modules of the inquiry into alleged planning corruption in Dublin.

ONE of the main witnesses in the Planning Tribunal, James Gogarty, 86, has applied for €3.5m in legal costs arising out of his long-running involvement with the inquiry.

THE Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) is to set up a special investigation unit to target wealthy property developers who bribed politicians and public officials.

FORMER Fianna Fáil minister Ray Burke has advised the chairman of the Planning Tribunal, Judge Alan Mahon, to look “close to home” for the source of leaks of confidential papers from the inquiry.

GEORGE REDMOND, who is serving a 12-month prison sentence on corruption charges, could face further criminal prosecutions for the same offence after the latest interim report by the Planning Tribunal found he had received bribes from two businessmen in the late 1980s.

FORMER assistant Dublin city and county manager George Redmond lodged sums of money equivalent to the value of “a substantial house” each year since the early 1960s to his bank accounts, according to the Planning Tribunal.

The Planning Tribunal’s latest interim report has found that former council official George Redmond received corrupt payments from two property developers.

The Planning Tribunal’s report into the activities of George Redmond will reportedly be published later today.

Former assistant Dublin city and county manager George Redmond is reportedly facing the prospect of further corruption allegations in a report to be published shortly by the Mahon Tribunal.

WHILE nobody should begrudge Mr Justice Feargus Flood the retirement that he finally confirmed yesterday, it is an understatement to say the decision has created a wave of uncertainty about the future of the inquiry that bears his name.

DISGRACED former Fianna Fáil minister Ray Burke wants the taxpayer to pay his €10.5 million legal bill from the Flood Tribunal - despite the fact he obstructed the work of the inquiry.

A CRUCIAL hearing of the Flood Tribunal to decide how much of an estimated €50 million-plus legal bill must be picked up by those who have obstructed the inquiry has been postponed again.

FRANK DUNLOP has admitted he colluded with councillors and property developers to mislead the Flood Tribunal by claiming all his payments to politicians were legitimate donations.

RAY BURKE was given a clean bill of health by the Garda Commissioner, prior to his appointment to the cabinet in 1997, the Taoiseach said yesterday.

The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern has told the Dail that he had no evidence that Ray Burke was involved in wrongdoing when he appointed him to the cabinet in 1997.

BERTIE Ahern, the Teflon Taoiseach, is finally coming unstuck.

RAY Burke's period as chairman of Dublin Co Council will be examined in the next stage of the Flood Tribunal after its findings that the former minister received corrupt payments in the late 1980s.

FORMER Fianna Fáil minister Ray Burke could be facing a two-year jail sentence over his failure to co-operate with the Tribunal on 14 separate counts.

THE findings of the interim report of the Flood Tribunal formally uncovered a trail of corruption and bribery, perjury and obstruction which is breathtaking in its scope.

FORMER minister Ray Burke was handed £30,000 in cash at his home in north Dublin in June 1989 and knew it was for his support and influence in rezoning lucrative development land, the Flood Tribunal has concluded.

The interim report of the Flood Tribunal has concluded that former Fianna Fail TD Ray Burke was engaged in corrupt activity while serving as a Government minister in the late 1980s.

IT will be extremely difficult to prosecute anyone in relation to planning corruption, despite five years of investigations, the Flood Tribunal report is expected to conclude today.