Taoiseach’s finances - The year of unanswered questions

IN TIME the big story of last year may not be the general election and Bertie Ahern’s hat trick of general election victories, but the questions that would not go away about his finances, or the Punch and Judy routine between his government and the Mahon Tribunal.

Early in the year he was calling for his chance to clear up matters at the tribunal.

Justice Minister Michael McDowell took a clear swipe at the tribunal, intimating that it should be wound