Government left red-faced as Mahon admits tax settlement

THE revelation of a £20,000 tax settlement by the judge chairing the Planning Tribunal last night is an embarrassment for the Government, which will face questions about the extent of its own knowledge of his tax problems.

Judge Alan Mahon admitted yesterday he made a settlement of £20,000 (€25,400) with the Revenue Commissioners in 1992 and was named in that year’s list of tax defaulters who had settled with the Revenue.

His admission came a day before The Phoenix magazine was due to release details of the underpayment of £16,000 and the £4,000 penalty.

In a statement issued yesterday, Judge Mahon said his settlement was a “result of a miscalculation of my tax liability in one year in the later 1980s which became evident following upon a subsequent Revenue audit”.

He said he had disclosed the tax settlement in the written application to the Judicial Appointments Commission, which decided on his suitability to become a Circuit Court judge.

The Government issued a terse statement last night saying that it was a personal matter of taxation between the judge and the Revenue, which had been settled and that it had nothing further to say on the matter.

However, the refusal of the Government and the Department of the Environment (which is responsible for the Planning Tribunal) to be drawn on the matter left several questions unanswered:

l Was either the Government or the department aware of Judge Mahon’s tax settlement before, or at the time, he was appointed as a member of the Planning Tribunal by the Minister for the Environment?

2 If it was aware of the settlement at the time, were there any discussions held about clarifying his settlement publicly?

3 If it was aware, was it not concerned about a problem of perception for the tribunal, given the tribunal’s investigations centre on undeclared payments to the Revenue?

The opposition’s reaction to the revelation was muted last night, though politicians privately expressed concern about the problem Judge Mahon’s tax problems would create for the public’s perception of the tribunal.

The strongest statement came from Green Party leader Trevor Sargent who said he was shocked at the disclosure, which he considered a setback for the working of the tribunal.

“Something like that being on top of the news would certainly impact on the tribunal in terms of its energy and effectiveness,” he said.

Responding last night, Fine Gael said the judge had acted correctly in disclosing the information yesterday.

Its statement went on to point out: “It would be useful if the Government clarified the extent of knowledge it had of this matter when making appointments to the Planning Tribunal.”

The Labour Party said the miscalculation by Judge Mahon was “embarrassing for the tribunal but not so important as to interfere with its work”.

Former Fianna Fáil politician Liam Lawlor, whose activities as a Dublin county councillor forms a central part of the tribunal’s inquiries, gave a short but colourful reaction.

“Let he who has never sinned throw the first stone,” he said on his mobile phone from New York.

A Dublin developer made new allegations against Mr Lawlor at the tribunal yesterday, saying that he gave Mr Lawlor large sums of money after he ensured that a housing development secured a Lucan rather than a Clondalkin address.

Judge Mahon’s tax liabilities date back to an underpayment in the late 1980s when he was a senior counsel based in Co Kildare.

He was named in the 1992 list because his settlement exceeded £10,000 and because he had not made a voluntary disclosure of the tax underpayment to inspectors conducting the audit.