Report could answer many questions

IT IS now eight days since the Lowry Dunnes Stores affair broke on an unsuspecting public and political establishment. Despite dozens of follow up news reports, a few fresh disclosures and thousands of words of comment and analysis, certain key questions remain unanswered.

Among them are:

. Why did the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications, Mr Lowry, resign?

He called the payment of £208,000 "an entirely legitimate and normal commercial agreement" and said it was entirely unrelated to his duties as a Minister. If so it seems unnecessary to have resigned and to have not yet given a detailed explanation of the payment.

. What is in the Price Waterhouse report?

Throughout the week, names of politicians, former politicians, senior public servants, former senior public servants, a senior newspaper executive and others have done the rounds in political and journalistic circles.

All or some of these may be named in the Price Waterhouse report as having received money from Dunnes Stores, authorised by Mr Ben Dunne. If those names are publicised, the individuals involved will be asked to explain why they received these payments.

. Did a former senior Fianna Fail minister get over £1 million from Ben Dunne, and if so, why?

The person widely reported to have received this money - in at least four payments to London bank accounts over a six to nine month period in 1991 - has refused to discuss the matter. Fianna Fail sources have given two mutually exclusive reasons why this money might have been received. "Sources close to" the individual have also been reported as denying that he received this money at all.

. What other politicians or public servants received payments from Mr Dunne and why?

At least 11 names of people who allegedly received payments from Mr Ben Dunne have been circulating among politicians and journalists this week. They include senior local government officials, politicians, a senior newspaper executive and, it is said in some quarters, a former senior garda. Some of these reports, if true, would raise serious questions about the past conduct of public policy.

. How many other business people have made confidential payments to politicians, public servants and political parties, and why?

Details of payments made by one businessman to various people in public life and to political parties have been glimpsed by the public almost by chance. It may be reasonable to conclude that Dunnes Stores was not the only business in the State to have made such payments.

The Price Waterhouse report, prepared for Dunnes Stores management in readiness for a court case arising from the 1993 departure of Ben Dunne from his position of managing director, holds the answers to many of these questions. The report contains details of payments made by Dunnes Stores when Mr Ben Dunne was managing director.

A week ago yesterday Sam Smyth of the Irish Independent reported that one of these payments was of £208,000 for building work on the home of Mr Lowry. Over the past eight days the saga has mushroomed as the large number of payments emerged, and rumours abounded as to the recipients - and the reasons.

The report is the key, and neither the Government nor any reporter appears to have seen a full copy of it. Dunnes Stores management gave a copy to the Revenue Commissioners during the week. The Government says it hopes to get a copy from Dunnes as well. But even if it does, it is unclear whether it can publish the names involved, and whether the report will contain enough evidence to prove the allegations being made.

The tabling by the Progressive Democrats of a Dail motion, to b9 debated next week, to set up a tribunal of inquiry into the controversy will ensure the questions do not go away. Fianna Fail appears likely to support the PD motion. The Government will be anxious to avoid the embarrassment of having to vote it down.

The best way to do that seems to be securing the publication of the Price Waterhouse report in advance. The Tanaiste, Mr Spring, has been having discussions with the chief executive of Dunnes Stores, Mrs Margaret Heffernan, in an attempt to procure a copy of the report.

Publication is fraught with difficulty. It is likely the Government would not publish details of payments to private individuals, so someone must decide which payments were to public figures and which to private individuals. Then there is the question of indemnifying Dunnes Stores, Price Waterhouse and perhaps the media against legal actions taken as a result of publication.

It is a complex and delicate task. Meanwhile, the rumours continue and multiply.