HAD Fintan O’Toole, Shane Ross, Pat Leahy and Matt Cooper invited me to a four-way book promotion in the National Concert Hall in Dublin last Wednesday night, I probably would have declined their kind offer.

The terms "bribery" and "corruption" were never raised in meetings in 1999 between George Redmond's solicitor and Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy, who was then chief of the Criminal Assets Bureau, a court has heard today.

A 42 year-old unemployed man from Dublin has appeared before a special court sitting charged in connection with a massive drugs seizure with an estimated street value in excess of €1m.