Flood tribunal evidence to be 'turgid and hard to follow'

Much of the evidence to be presented at the forthcoming hearings into allegations of Co Dublin planning corruption will be "technical, detailed, turgid and hard to follow", the Flood tribunal's lawyers said today.

The proceedings, entering their fifth year, will involve huge amounts of repetition and complicated documentation, Mr John Gallagher SC said.

In this afternoon's preliminary statement, Mr Gallagher noted that the tribunal is currently investigating around 30 separate matters, including decisions taken on the rezoning of 20 different parcels of land in Co Dublin. These will all be heard in public.

A number of other matters are being heard in private that may require further investigation, he said.

Evidence will be given that money was paid to a number of public representatives in return for favours on planning matters in the 1980s and 1990s and also that certain parties - including lobbyists - acted as intermediaries between landowners or builders and politicians to ensure certain planning decisions were taken.

This evidence dates back to October, 1964, but most originates after 1980. To date, the tribunal has interviewed 530 people and studied millions of pages of documentation. 190 witnesses have given evidence in public. In the past week alone, 610 files containing upwards of 90,000 documents have been sent to the tribunal on foot of orders of discovery.

There have been 8,400 such orders since the tribunal began its investigation in November 1997. It has sat for 337 days in public.

The next tranche of the tribunal's public sittings relate to planning decisions taken in the 1990s on the rezoning of lands at Carrickmines in south county Dublin.

It will be divided into two separate modules. The first, dubbed Carrickmines One, will investigate the circumstances surrounding the rezoning of lands owned by Paisley Park and subsequently Jackson Way and other adjoining land, co-owned by three businessmen, Mr Brian O'Halloran, Mr Gerard Kilcoyne and Prof Austin Darragh.

The second module, Carrickmines Two, will delve into who actually owned Paisley Park and Jackson Way at the time. However, it may not be possible to have a "complete demarcation" between the two modules, Mr Gallagher warned.

There will be a total of seven site-specific modules dealt with over the coming years.

The inquiry will be an attempt to "see the woods from the trees", he said. Although the tribunal's approach may be by necessity long, drawn out and deliberate, any other method could lead to the tribunal becoming lost in a "forest" of financial details, "from which it might never emerge".

The tribunal is carrying out an important public duty under the terms of the Local Government Planning and Development Act, 1963, which was enacted for the "plain people" of Ireland, Mr Gallagher observed."It did not refer to the interests of the landlords, developers, speculators, county councillors, officials, politicians, party supporters, contributors, donors and any other electoral and narrow interests," he said. "It did refer to the common good."