Air chief: Reynolds ordered diversion

DURING his St Patrick’s Day visit to the US in 1994 former Taoiseach Albert Reynolds ordered the government jet to make an unscheduled flight from Nassau to Freeport in the Bahamas, the Mahon Tribunal heard yesterday.

Brigadier General Ralph James, who heads the Air Corps, confirmed the flight schedule had been altered at Mr Reynolds’s request during a 10-day trip.

At the tribunal, developer Tom Gilmartin had alleged being told about a Fianna Fáil fundraising trip to the US when more than $1 million was raised following the peace deal in the North.