Auditors who checked the annual accounts of Anglo Irish Bank should have spotted secret multi-million euro loans, Financial Regulator Patrick Neary said today.

THE festive Christmas break prevented proper analysis of one of the most shocking and infamous scandals ever to arise in corporate Ireland.

THE Financial Regulator is to intensify its examination of directors’ loans in all of the country’s main banks following a meeting of its board over the weekend.

PUBLIC relations consultant and former public relations adviser to the Government Monica Leech was last night approved as chief executive officer of Waterford Chamber of Commerce by a chamber sub-committee.

New guidelines on the awarding of government PR contracts are to be implemented immediately in the wake of the recent Monica Leech controversy.

THE decision of the State ethics watchdog not to investigate Martin Cullen's appointment of Monica Leech as a PR consultant has prompted calls for additional powers to be granted to the body.

The Cabinet has approved tighter controls on the awarding of department contracts and will unveil them soon, it was claimed tonight.

MARTIN CULLEN was in the clear last night as the State ethics watchdog decided against initiating a full inquiry into the appointment of his political associate Monica Leech as a PR consultant.

An Oireachtas watchdog tonight ruled there were no grounds for an inquiry into the appointment of public relations consultant Monica Leech to the Department of Transport.

The Standards in Public Office Commission is due to meet this evening to discuss whether to hold an inquiry into the awarding of government PR contracts to Waterford consultant Monica Leech.

ENVIRONMENT Minister Dick Roche was asked yesterday if he would resign if he found himself in the same position as his predecessor Martin Cullen over the Monica Leech appointment.

PLEASE jog my memory. What exactly did Martin Cullen not do wrong? Was it his suggestion to the Office of Public Works that they hire one of his political supporters, Monica Leech?

Today will see the formal end of the contractual association between Monica Leech and the Department of the Environment, but the saga it generated has still to run its course.

Transport Minister Martin Cullen is facing questions over a trip he took with three advisors to a Malaysian island in February 2003.

MARTIN CULLEN will have to sweat it out for another week before learning if a fresh investigation is to be launched into the awarding of lucrative PR contracts to his political associate Monica Leech.

The question of whether or not the Standards in Public Office Commission fully investigates the circumstances surrounding the awarding of contracts by Transport Minister Martin Cullen, will have to await another day and further legal advice.

TRANSPORT Minister Martin Cullen and three officials spent a weekend at an exclusive resort on a tropical Malaysian island last year en route to an international conference held under Ireland’s EU Presidency last year.

The Standards in Public Office Commission is due to decide today whether to investigate the awarding of lucrative Government contracts to a close friend of Transport Minister Martin Cullen.

MONICA LEECH’S involvement in the awarding of a €4.5 million contract to so-called ‘friends of Fianna Fáil’ is expected to be probed by an Oireachtas watchdog this morning.

The fate of Transport Minister Martin Cullen should be known on Friday evening after the Standards in Public Office Commission meets to study how he awarded PR contracts in two Government departments.

Tommy Reilly’s withdrawal leaves the FF bye-election campaign in disarray, writes Political Correspondent Fionnán Sheahan

THERE were lessons for everybody in the Quigley report, said Martin Cullen on Thursday.

THE true scale of the persistent endorsement of Monica Leech by Martin Cullen was revealed yesterday in a report into the awarding of €390,000 worth of PR contracts to the minister’s political associate.

TRANSPORT Minister Martin Cullen last night said yesterday’s report into the hiring of Monica Leech had cleared him completely of any wrongdoing.

ALTHOUGH exonerated in a legal sense of any impropriety by the Quigley report into the awarding of the Leech PR contracts, Transport Minister Martin Cullen has possibly another hurdle to face before the saga ends.

MARTIN CULLEN was proclaiming himself an innocent man yesterday. If Dermot Quigley’s remit had been to investigate political cronyism and parochialism, the verdict would have been distinctly different.

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern yesterday pledged to move quickly to implement all 12 recommendations contained in yesterday’s report into the circumstances surrounding the appointment of Monica Leech by Transport Minister Martin Cullen.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said tonight that Minister for Transport Martin Cullen’s future in the Cabinet is secure for now after a civil servant’s report cleared him of any wrongdoing.

Minister for Transport Martin Cullen has acknowledged that changes in procedures are warranted following the controversy surrounding the awarding of PR contracts to one of his close friends.

The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, has vowed to implement the recommendations of the Quigley report into the awarding of lucrative PR contracts to a close friend of Minister for Transport Martin Cullen.

The Government-commissioned report into the awarding of lucrative PR contracts to Monica Leech has exonerated Minister for Transport Martin Cullen of any wrongdoing in relation to the deals.

The government-commissioned report into the awarding of PR contracts to a close friend of Transport Minister Martin Cullen is due to be published later today.

An eagerly-awaited report into how Minister for Transport Martin Cullen awarded lucrative PR contracts was leaked to the media before presented to the Dáil, it was claimed today.

TRANSPORT Minister Martin Cullen may well be exonerated this week by the independent inquiry into contracts awarded to PR consultant Monica Leech, a senior Cabinet colleague predicted last night.

Although riding high in weekend opinion polls, the Government will come crashing back to earth with a series of tough tests when the Dáil resumes after its five-week Christmas break on Wednesday.

Growth plan for regions has failed to deliver, writes Political Reporter Mary Dundon

SOLICITORS acting for Transport Minister Martin Cullen have written to RTÉ outlining his annoyance at lewd suggestions made about him and his PR adviser Monica Leech on the Joe Duffy Liveline programme before Christmas.

TRANSPORT Minister Martin Cullen said he had no intention of resigning over the controversy surrounding the conditions of a PR contract awarded to his Waterford constituency supporter, Monica Leech.

The Office of Public Works (OPW) has reportedly given a file on its public relations deal with Monica Leech to the man appointed by the Government to investigate the awarding of the contract.

DEPARTMENT officials last night denied Transport Minister Martin Cullen, who is the subject of two inquiries into the appointment of PR adviser Monica Leech, was rushed to hospital earlier this week.

FORMER Environment Minister Martin Cullen's claim of an urgent need for a communications specialist to deal with the National Spatial Strategy (NSS) was questioned yesterday by Fine Gael.

EMBATTLED Transport Minister Martin Cullen should know his political fate in three weeks after yesterday’s announcement that a retired Revenue chief will probe consulting contracts awarded to Monica Leech.

A former chairman of the Revenue Commissioners has been appointed to head the inquiry into the awarding of lucrative government contracts to PR executive Monica Leech.

CHARLIE McCREEVY is allowing less than four months to figure out a way to put his decentralisation into action.