Beef tribunal: Hollow victory cost Reynolds dearly

Albert Reynolds was triumphant when the Beef Tribunal presented its final report in 1994, its 580 pages containing bizarrely benign conclusions about the key players under its scrutiny.

“I have been fully and totally vindicated, both personally and as a minister,” he told the Dáil.

“My decisions at the time, the report confirms, were taken in the national interest.”