Witnesses not to hear of report findings ahead of publication

TRIBUNAL CHAIRMAN Judge Alan Mahon has said the planning tribunal does not intend to inform witnesses of its findings in advance of publishing its report.

On what looked likely to be the penultimate public sitting of the tribunal, Judge Mahon said the majority of tribunals had not followed that procedure.

He said the tribunal would write to witnesses' solicitors in the next couple of days inviting them to make final submissions on behalf of their clients.

They would then be given four or five weeks to do so, although such final submissions were not compulsory.

Paul Sreenan SC, counsel for developer Owen O'Callaghan, asked Judge Mahon if he intended to indicate any proposed findings to witnesses before publishing his report.

If not, he said, he would have to make an extremely lengthy closing submission and would waste tribunal's time by addressing issues the tribunal had no interest in.

Judge Mahon said the tribunal would not be informing witnesses in advance of publication.

"It hasn't done so before and the majority of tribunals, as far as we are aware, have not followed that procedure," he said.

Mr Sreenan said both the Ansbacher inquiry and the Moriarty tribunal had indicated proposed findings to witnesses and had given them the opportunity of addressing them.

"They found that process very useful and certainly parties have found that it protected their rights to a fair hearing," he said.

He said he knew "the tribunal didn't have a fixed view on it at this stage".

"Well that is our view at this stage," Judge Mahon said.

He was also asked, by Caroline Cummings, counsel for former taoiseach Albert Reynolds, if he would make a finding that anonymous hearsay could not be relied on as evidence.

"We wouldn't be in a position to give any such assurance," Judge Mahon said.