Mahon: Tribunal 'attacked and undermined' by Ahern-era ministers
Judge Alan Mahon has used the final report of the planning inquiry to launch a withering attack on some of former taoiseach Bertie Ahern's Cabinet colleagues in his final months as leader.
In a section headlined “Integrity and Independence of the Tribunal” Judge Mahon claims his work was savagely attacked and undermined.
“In 2007/2008 at a time when this Tribunal was inquiring into matters relating to Bertie Ahern... it came under sustained and virulent attack from a number of senior Government ministers who questioned the legality of its inquiries as well as the integrity of its members,” the report said.
“It was entirely inappropriate for members of the Government to launch such unseemly and partisan attacks against a Tribunal of Inquiry... to inquire into serious concerns regarding corruption in public life.
“There appears little doubt that the objective of these extraordinary and unprecedented attacks on the Tribunal was to undermine the efficient conduct of the Tribunal’s inquiries, erode its independence and collapse its inquiry into that individual.
“They were as regrettable as they were ill-considered and unfounded.”
Those left in politics from the Ahern years include current Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin and former ministers Willie O‘Dea and Éamon Ó Cuív.
