Like the Great War, the planning tribunal chaired by Mr Justice Flood was supposed to be over by Christmas, last Christmas. Yet more than a year after it was set up, the tribunal has yet to hear its first witness, and the number of days it has sat in public could be counted on the fingers of one hand.

At times, the tribunal seems to be going nowhere. Progress has been painfully slow, and the threat of court proceedings hangs over its every move.

A broad interpretation of its remit to investigate planning corruption has given rise to investigations on several fronts, some of them seemingly unrelated. But, as a result, the tribunal has seemed to lack focus, and the prospect of a quick result has been forfeited.

The tribunal has also been bedevilled by a series of leaks, which has led some of those under scrutiny to complain with some justice about a process of "trial by allegation".

And all the while, the meters are running for the lawyers who have found work at the tribunal. The four senior counsel on the tribunal's legal team earn up to £1,450 for each sitting day, and £1,350 for non-sitting days.

Legal representation is also being granted to an increasing number of people caught up in the sweep of the tribunal's work, though there is no guarantee the State will meet their costs.

Supporters liken the tribunal to an iceberg, with the great bulk of its work and possible impact still concealed. And, like an iceberg, the planning tribunal could still produce a political cataclysm of titanic proportions.

For now, though, it seems much more probable that the lengthy delays will continue. At least one of the five parties named in the affidavit filed by James Gogarty may go to the High Court to prevent Mr Gogarty's evidence being heard next January.

At the age of 81, Mr Gogarty does not have time on his side. The man whose allegations gave rise to the tribunal has recently been following events from a bed in the Mater Private Hospital, though his condition has improved since.

Mr Gogarty, the former senior executive of Joseph Murphy Structural Engineering (JMSE), is said to be ready to name the six councillors mentioned in his affidavit as having been involved in land rezoning in 1989; three are still active in politics.

The affidavit also makes serious and by now well-known allegations about the former minister for foreign affairs, Ray Burke, and a former senior Dublin planning official.

Tribunal sources have let it be known that they have amassed enough evidence to follow up Mr Gogarty's allegations, even if he proves unfit to take the witness stand.

The tribunal's other main witness is Mr Tom Gilmartin, the British-based Irish property developer. Mr Gilmartin has alleged that in the 1980s he gave Ireland's EU Commissioner, the former minister, Mr Padraig Flynn, a cheque for £50,000 as a donation to Fianna Fail. Mr Flynn denies receiving the cheque.

Mr Gilmartin also claimed that Mr Liam Lawlor, a Fianna Fail TD for Dublin West, received £3,500 a month in consultancy fees over 10 months from Arlington Securities, a British company which was working with Mr Gilmartin to develop a site on Bachelors Walk in the 1980s. Mr Lawlor has acknowledged that he did receive money from Mr Gilmartin.

Mr Gilmartin was also involved in trying to develop a shopping centre at Quarryvale in west Dublin. The former Fianna Fail press officer and public relations consultant, Mr Frank Dunlop, received about £650,000 for his services in helping to develop this project.

But control of the project eventually passed to the Cork property developer, Mr Owen O'Callaghan, after the necessary rezoning for a 250,000 sq ft shopping centre was acquired in 1993. This has just opened as the Liffey Valley Centre.

The tribunal has demanded bank records relating to Mr O'Callaghan's companies as part of its investigation into alleged payments to Dublin county councillors for their vote on the Quarryvale rezoning, the Sunday In- dependent reported last weekend.

The tribunal has already suffered a heavy defeat in the courts, after lawyers for the builder, Mr Michael Bailey, successfully contested its orders for discovery of documents such as bank account details. This case, which ended up in the Supreme Court, seems to have put back the tribunal's work by several months.

The tribunal is only now attempting to obtain these bank details following different legal procedures. And it has yet to ask some of the Dublin county councillors who were most prominent in rezoning why they proposed the rezoning motions.

There are still big players who may yet be drawn into the net of investigations; for example, Dr Tony O'Reilly, whose subsidiary company, Rennicks Manufacturing, made a £30,000 payment to Mr Burke. However, since Mr Burke's resignation, the smell of sulphur has receded from the chamber in Dublin Castle. To many outsiders, it must look like a row between some elderly builders.

After all, Mr Gogarty isn't the only octogenarian in the affair; his former boss, Joseph Murphy snr, who lives in the Channel Islands, is also in his 80s. Other JMSE executives enmeshed in the affair are in their 70s.

Those who are the subject of allegations have complained that their good name is being ruined by the slow pace of justice and the drip-feed of leaks.

But Mr Gogarty and Mr Gilmartin have also suffered. Both have been characterised by their critics as bitter men with scores to settle. Mr Gogarty is said to be angry over his pension arrangements with JMSE; Mr Gilmartin put a lot of work into Quarryvale but eventually lost control of the project.

Amid all the delays and recriminations, it's easy to forget what the tribunal is all about. Vast amounts of money were made in the 1980s from rezoning land. Prices could shoot up from £5,000 an acre to £50,000 following a successful rezoning to residential status.

At the time and afterwards, there were persistent but unconfirmed reports of corruption in the planning process. The planning tribunal offers one last chance to prove these allegations, or remove the taint of suspicion that hangs over the process.