A brief Profile of tribunals
| Irish Leaders and Tribunals The questioning of the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, later this month, before the Mahon Tribunal is similar to another successful Irish statesman who gave evidence to clear his name almost 120 years ago, Charles Stewart Parnell.His case, which involved the publication of a series of slanderous articles by The Times entitled ‘Parnellism and Crime’, led to the creation of the Tribunals of Inquiry Act 1921, from which today’s tribunals derive their powers.The series climaxed in 1882 with the publication of a letter apparently supporting the assassination of Lord Cavendish and Under Secretary Burke in the Pheonix Park. The document, allegedly written in Parnell’s hand claimed, “Burke got no more than his deserts.”
Parnell was incensed at the publication, calling it “an audacious and unblushing fabrication” but hesitated in suing The Times before a London or Dublin jury, since an unprejudiced hearing could not be guaranteed. Instead, he called for an “urgent public enquiry” into the affair. Thus a tribunal named ‘the Parnell Commission’ headed by three judges, was created: its powers were |
straightforward, it was to be held in public, and would provide legal counsel for those who assisted its inquiries. It was also vested with all the powers of the High Court in enforcing the attendance of witnesses; but it could not prosecute a criminal, merely investigate any wrongdoing, and report, with recommendations, to Parliament. That inquiry took three weeks to vindicate Parnell’s claims; concluding the letters were forgeries, purchased by Times editor E.C. Houston from a disreputable Dublin journalist, Richard Piggot – who later fled prosecution, and committed suicide in Madrid. |
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The inadmissibility of tribunal testimony in criminal cases would have made little difference in the tense political atmosphere following the Irish Civil War. Nevertheless, in 1928 the Free State began a tribunal following the same basic rules – a public investigation, with the same significant powers – to investigate the killing of IRA volunteer and Fianna Fail member Tim Coughlan by Free State officer and IRA agent provocateur Sean Hurling.Hurling, one of the few witnesses to appear before the Tribunal, claimed to have been attacked by two armed assailants, as he arrived home one evening. He returned fire, mortally injuring one attacker in the process.That tribunal reported to Eamon De Valera’s government that Coughlan, was an IRA assassin intent on murdering Hurling and exonerated the Fianna Fail member of any wrongdoing.But several discrepancies arose between his testimony and that of Dr. Wilfred Lane who conducted the post mortem.
Lane concluded that the remains of a cigarette butt between the victim’s lips, a horizontal frature of the skull, and a bullet entry wound at the back of Coughlan’s skull indicated that Coughlan had been caught unawares, viciously beaten before being executed. |
| In 1946 allegations made against Fianna Fail Parliamentary Secretary Dr. F. C. Ward by Dr. MacCarvill (TD) in Dáil Éireann prompted De Valera to call for a tribunal to establish whether Dr. Ward was guilty of unethical conduct in his management of the Monahan Curing Company.MacCarvill, who’s brother had been fired from a managerial position at the company by Dr. Ward, claimed, amongst other allegations, that the Secretary had profited from undisclosed cash sales of meat to the army and the avoidance of tax as a result. Although the tribunal report found no basis for many of the allegations of corruption, it did note that “certain cash transactions carried out by the company did not disclose tax receipts.” Prior to De Valera releasing the report, he read the Secretary’s letter of resignation to Dáil Éireann. |  |
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In recent decades tribunals have been called upon to investigate some of the most senior figures in contemporary business and political circles. 1997 saw the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern and Minister for Local Government, Brian Lenihan, create three tribunals, led by Judges McCracken, Moriarty and Mahon.The McCracken and Moriarty tribunals would investigate former Taoiseach Charles Haughey’s Ansbacher accounts and report whether any public representative or civil servant had received unethical payments, and if so, by whom, and for what purpose. The Mahon Tribunal would investigate allegations of planning corruption in order to “ensure that the integrity of public administration is not compromised by the dependence of party politics on financial contributions”.The McCracken Tribunal took four weeks to conclude that Haughey had lied under oath concerning a payment of IR£1.3m from businessman Ben Dunne. It also uncovered substantial funds in the former Taoiseach’s offshore Ansbacher accounts.It recommended that the 72-year-old be tried for obstructing its investigations, but this was postponed indefinitely by the courts due to concerns about Mr. Haughey receiving a fair trial. |
| In 2005, prior to the publication of the Moriarty report, Minister for Justice and Law Reform, Michael McDowell, introduced a Bill which he claimed would “likely repeal the Tribunals of Inquiry Act 1921″. The Amendment proposes conferring a broad range of powers (namely the power to dissolve a tribunal as well as setting and amending its terms of reference) on the Minister responsible for enacting tribunals.The Moriarty Tribunal lasted almost ten years, and its report in 2006, soon after Mr. Haughey’s death, confirmed that he had enriched himself by £9.1 million in payments (equating to €45 million today), which, the report stated: “devalued the quality of a modern democracy”. It also discovered that he had purloined £265,000 from his friend, Brian Lenihan’s liver transplant fund, as well as accepting a 50,000 share in a race horse from a Saudi businessman, allegedly in return for a favorable decision in a passport application.Following the current Taoiseach’s appearance at the Mahon Tribunal and a month before the Fianna Fail leader’s next appearance, Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan, reintroduced the 2005 Amendment Bill, for debate in both Houses of the Oireachtas.The Bill, if carried by the Seanad and the Dáil – the governing party commands a comfortable majority in both of these Houses – will empower the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Green Party leader John Gormley, to dissolve any Tribunal, including one investigating the Taoiseach, if he so chooses. |  |
Conall said
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