Private evidence to tribunal finished on Thursday

Former Taoiseach Mr Haughey completed giving evidence in private to the Moriarty tribunal on Thursday morning.

The tribunal had finished questioning him about all the matters which had already been covered by the tribunal in its public sittings.

However, he might have been recalled to give more evidence about matters which may have come up in evidence, such as decisions he may have made which favoured persons who gave him money.

Prior to giving evidence, Mr Haughey had refused to answer queries from the tribunal, insisting that all the evidence concerning his finances be heard before he be asked to respond.

Mr Haughey began giving evidence for two hours a day, four days a week, last year. The special regime was put in place in view of his age and medical condition.

After the summer break, Mr Haughey resumed this programme but in October, in a surprise development, his counsel, Mr Eoin McGonigal SC, informed the tribunal during a public session that Mr Haughey's medical advisers were of the view he should no longer give evidence or have anything to do with the tribunal.

In particular, it is understood Mr Peter McLean, a consultant urologist and one of a number of medical advisers retained by Mr Haughey, was strongly of the view that the stress created by his having to deal with the tribunal was affecting Mr Haughey's life expectancy.

Mr Haughey was diagnosed as having prostate cancer in 1995. In January 1997, after revelations concerning payments from Mr Ben Dunne, but prior to the establishment of the McCracken (Dunnes Payments) Tribunal, he suffered a minor heart attack.

Following representations from Mr McGonigal in October 2000, the Moriarty tribunal engaged a London-based urologist, Mr Gordon Williams, to examine the former Taoiseach.

Mr Williams concluded Mr Haughey was fit to give evidence but only did so after receiving a report from a neurologist, Prof Martin Rossor, who examined Mr Haughey's powers of concentration and memory.

Following receipt of these reports, Mr Justice Moriarty made an order that evidence would be taken "on commission" from Mr Haughey. This involved his being interviewed before the chairman and in the presence of his legal advisers in a private room in Dublin Castle.

In general this occurred four days a week, for one hour a day. The interviews began early in the new year. The transcripts from these interviews are to be read into the public record of the tribunal later. Mr Haughey's evidence was heard in private so as to reduce the stress involved in having to appear before the tribunal.

In his public evidence, Mr Haughey was questioned at length about the debt he ran up with AIB during the 1970s and the eventual settlement of that £1.143 million debt with a payment of £750,000.

The settlement was negotiated around the time Mr Haughey first became Taoiseach. A special account opened for receiving the money used to settle the debt was opened on the day Mr Haughey was elected Taoiseach, December 11th, 1979.

Mr Haughey's general line in evidence was that his financial affairs were run by the late Mr Des Traynor, and he did not know the details. Since he began giving evidence in private he has been questioned about other matters which have been investigated by the tribunal.

These would have included payments from the Irish Permanent Building Society and the Custom House Docks Development Company Ltd. Other subjects he would have been questioned about include the Fianna Fail party leader's account and the fund for the late Mr Brian Lenihan.

The tribunal resumes hearings tomorrow into the £1 million settlement between Mr Haughey and the Revenue in relation to the payments from Mr Dunne detailed during the McCracken tribunal.

The chairman, Mr Justice Moriarty, has indicated there may be hearings into a limited number of decisions made by Mr Haughey and which may have benefited donors. These are matters which Mr Haughey would most likely have been questioned about at a later date if he had not become ill.