Antiquated laws hamper corruption prosecutions

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.

Tribunal chairman Mr Justice Flood, who has been investigating rezoning in North County Dublin, will highlight difficulties in proving corruption because of antiquated laws and is expected to call for stricter legislation.

The Tribunal’s interim report, which has clocked up costs of 21.4m so far, is expected to be highly critical of former Fianna Fáil minister Ray Burke who received hundreds of thousands of euro from developers and businessmen over a 20-year period.