Perhaps only the CAB can prevent €13 million in taxpayers' money ending up in the offshore accounts of a company under investigation by the Mahon tribunal, writes Paul Cullen
For all the tribunals we have set up, none seems to be able to make the slightest impact on the normal flow of money in property transactions. All that has happened to land speculators in the past five years is that they have grown richer.
You or I might think it regrettable that the principals behind Jackson Way should seek to avoid tax by setting up offshore vehicles for their interests. You or I might think it significant that the company has come under intense scrutiny and not a little criticism at the tribunal.
We might note that one of the owners of Jackson Way has refused to turn up at the tribunal, while the other has admitted misleading the tribunal about his involvement in the company.
We might think this mattered.
And it does - just not in a legal sense.
Just as no criminal prosecutions - or even cases - have resulted from the first five years of the tribunal, so its investigations have had no influence or effect on the work of an arbitration tribunal taking place down the road.
The arbitrator, Mr John Shackleton, saw his job as being confined to the valuation of a piece of land compulsorily acquired for the M50 motorway. That was his remit, and he stuck to it steadfastly.
As a result, Jackson Way now only has to pass "go" in the conveyancing office of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council in order to collect its jackpot of almost €13 million.
There is the small matter of a title that has to be proved, but anyone who believes that the legal masterminds who put this sort of a deal together will trip up at the last hurdle is naive in the extreme.
While the council might be tempted to drag its heels before paying out the award, the interest component of the bill will probably dissuade it from such a course.
In 1988, businessman Mr Jim Kennedy paid about €850,000 for over 100 acres of this land at Carrickmines. Now just 20 acres of this has been valued at almost €13 million.
Yet even Mr Kennedy must be a little disappointed. Much of Jackson Way's original claims of €113 million and then €47 million were based on the concept of injurious affection, or the drop in value of the company's remaining land which would allegedly have been caused by the building of the motorway.
Mr Kennedy was once known in property circles as "the king of injurious affection" but this component of the arbitration award is just €2 million, a far cry from the multi-million claim that the company originally lodged.
Yet Jackson Way is far from seeing its final windfall. There are the 20 acres north of the motorway, zoned for industry five years ago, and the 60 acres of agricultural land to the south of the road.
If anything, the motorway will enhance the value of these lands, especially since the authorities have gone to such extraordinary lengths to ensure a network of interchanges and feeder roads in the Carrickmines area.
It emerged at the arbitration hearing that Jackson Way's land is subject to a restrictive covenant limiting the number of houses which can be built on it to a single dwelling. On the face of it, this seems like a considerable difficulty, yet it's nothing that a good lawyer or a hefty cheque couldn't solve.
That leaves the Criminal Assets Bureau. CAB detectives, who have the power to freeze funds on foot of a court order, have interviewed many of the main players in this controversy over the past year or two and will be watching developments with great interest.
Last October, the tribunal heard a claim that Mr Kennedy might finally be willing to co-operate with the tribunal.
Perhaps he is thinking of dropping in to Dublin Castle on his way to collect the cheque.