A FORMER Department of Finance principal officer Liam Murphy told the Mahon Tribunal yesterday that a special tax status for Blanchardstown Shopping Centre had been ruled out in 1990, three years before Taoiseach Bertie Ahern allegedly received £30,000 for blocking the centre’s bid.

GIVING donations to politicians who could benefit the company was “a necessary evil”, former Monarch property company secretary Anne Gosling told the Mahon planning tribunal yesterday.