Flood findings to be published today

The first report of the Flood Tribunal on planning and payments is due to be published today.

In his report, Justice Fergus Flood will decide whether or not a number of payments made to the former Foreign Affairs Minister, Ray Burke, were genuine political donations or were given in turn for political favours.

The main incidents to be decided on include an alleged payment of £40,000 by James Gogarty to Mr Burke in 1999 and a second payment of £35,000 by Oliver Barry to Mr Burke in the same year.

The second payment was made shortly after Mr Barry’s Century Radio won a national broadcasting licence.

There’s also the matter of payments totalling over £100,000 by builders Tom Brennan and Joe McGowan over a period of years.

The Flood Tribunal was set up in 1997 under Justice Fergus Flood and sat for the first time in January 1999.

Following the publication of the report, the tribunal will sit again to investigate the circumstances surrounding other controversial planning decisions.