The Garda Siochana has been brought in to try to establish the source of a report relating to the Flood tribunal which appeared in last Wednesday's Irish Independent, the tribunal was told yesterday.
The chairman of the planning tribunal, Mr Justice Flood, yesterday gave a brief ruling on an investigation into the leak carried out on Wednesday at the public sitting of the tribunal, and said he would resume the inquiry when the Garda investigation was completed.
In the article a reporter, Sam Smyth, claimed that the developer, Mr Michael Bailey, drew £50,000 in cash from his bank in November 1989, saying it was to pay Mr James Gogarty. The report, it is believed, was based on material submitted by the bank, Anglo-Irish Bank, to the tribunal.
On Wednesday, in its investigation of the leak, the tribunal called a number of witnesses, including Mr Michael Bailey, Mr Thomas Bailey, their solicitor, an Anglo-Irish Bank banking director, Mr Tom Browne, and the Baileys' public relations consultant, Mr Pat Heneghan,
Yesterday when the tribunal resumed on the matter, the chairman said that as a result of the unauthorised disclosure of confidential tribunal information last year the tribunal made a number of complaints to the Garda Siochana. The Garda instituted a criminal investigation as a result of those complaints.
"Following upon this latest unauthorised disclosure I sought the assistance of An Garda Siochana with a view to establishing the source of this disclosure. I am now informed by the Garda that their investigations are at an advanced stage.
"Having consulted with the Garda, who have been in contact with the DPP, I have decided that it would not be in the public interest to pursue my present inquiry in public pending the completion of the current Garda investigation," he said.
Accordingly, he said, he would resume this particular investigation at a later stage when the Garda investigation was completed.
Mr Pat Hanratty SC, for the tribunal, said that the tribunal had been in contact with the solicitor for Independent Newspapers, and he thought that in view of what the chairman had just said it would be appropriate to leave over any information regarding that until the matter was resumed after the conclusion of the Garda investigation.
At yesterday's sitting the chairman referred to a number of complaints made to the Garda. The most notable of these relates to the leaking of Mr Gogarty's affidavit, the contents of which were published in the Sunday Independent last November.