Questions for former colleagues

Last Wednesday, commenting on Charles Haughey's evidence to the Dunnes payments tribunal, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, conceded that his former leader's disgrace had tarnished "much of the good work that we have all been involved in - both myself and people who serve with me now, and people who served with me in the years gone by".

He was not, of course, suggesting that he or any of his colleagues had been involved in any wrongdoing. But he was acknowledging the fact that any re-examination of decisions made by Charles Haughey in government would inevitably raise questions about the rigour with which members of his cabinets exercised their statutory functions.

Bertie Ahern - Taoiseach

In 1991, Charles Haughey's acquaintance Dermot Desmond was centrally involved in the sale of the former Johnston, Mooney and O'Brien site in Dublin to Bord Telecom, whose chairman, Michael Smurfit, had a financial interest in the company which owned the site.

When the scandal broke, Mr Haughey sought the advice of Bertie Ahern before urging Dr Smurfit and others to "step aside" from their public positions. If this episode is revisited, it will be interesting to hear what Mr Ahern's advice was at the time and what questions he put to Mr Haughey.

Mr Ahern may also face questions about his introduction of a tax amnesty in 1994 and whether he suspected Goodman International would take advantage of it at a time when large-scale tax evasion by the company had been uncovered by the beef tribunal.

Joe Walsh - Minister for Agriculture

As Junior Minister for Food from 1987 to 1989, Joe Walsh was formally responsible for the controversial Goodman/IDA deal.

In his sworn evidence to the beef tribunal, however, Mr Walsh substantially understated the involvement of Charles Haughey in the negotiation of the package. He said there had not been any discussions between himself and Haughey about the progress of the deal.

When it was put to him that his evidence was "that the Taoiseach had absolutely nothing to do with this project - is that right?", he replied: "He hadn't anything to do with it."

This was, as subsequently emerged, seriously inaccurate - Charles Haughey played a key role in the deal.

On the subject of the press conference to announce the deal, Joe Walsh maintained in evidence that it was he who informed Mr Haughey of it and "out of my own generosity suggested that he might come along to this press conference the following day . . ." Charles Haughey, however, had in fact met Larry Goodman himself at Abbeville two days previously and discussed the press conference with him.

Any inquiry into this whole episode might wish to consider why Charles Haughey's role was downplayed for so long.

Ray Burke - Minister for Foreign Affairs

Ray Burke succeeded Albert Reynolds as Minister for Industry and Commerce in late 1988, and inherited the latter's policies of giving huge amounts of export credit insurance for beef exports to Iraq by Goodman and Hibernia, another company which had been a substantial donor to Fianna Fail.

He cancelled a second allocation of cover which Reynolds had agreed to, but continued to facilitate Goodman and Hibernia even when it was becoming obvious that a very large proportion of the beef they exported was not Irish product at all.

Having ordered an internal investigation into the problem, he went ahead and converted £35 million of Goodman's export credit insurance into unconditional bank guarantees, adding to the State's potential liability. He did the same for $46 million of Hibernia's insurance.

When the issue began to be raised in the Dail in 1989, he made a number of misleading replies to parliamentary questions. Explaining these replies subsequently, he said: "If the other side don't ask the right questions, then they don't get the right answers."

Mary O'Rourke - Minister for Public Enterprise

Ms O'Rourke was Minister for Education in 1990 and 1991 at the time of the sale of the Carysfort Training College site in Dublin.

The land was bought for £6.25 million by a Dublin truck importer and property dealer, Pino Harris, but resold shortly afterwards to University College Dublin for £8 million. UCD was, in effect, force-fed with money made available through the Department of Education to buy the site. Mr Haughey originally denied any involvement in the purchase, but it emerged that he had held several meetings with college officials.

Seamus Brennan - Government Chief Whip

As general secretary of Fianna Fail in the first year of Charles Haughey's leadership, Seamus Brennan could be asked about any changes in the organisation of the party's finances that took place under the new regime.

Along with Bertie Ahern, he was consulted by Charles Haughey in relation to the unfolding Telecom scandal.

He could also be asked about his role in the Goodman saga - as Minister of State at the Department of Industry and Commerce at the time he was theoretically given responsibility for export credit insurance. The statutory powers under the relevant acts were delegated to him in June 1987. As Ireland's representative on the Ireland-Iraq joint trade commission, he had a continuing involvement in negotiations which were central to the whole policy.

Bobby Molloy - Minister of State to the Government As Minister for Energy in 1992, Mr Molloy was ultimately responsible for the controversial sale of Glen Ding wood in Blessington, Co Wicklow, to Roadstone Dublin Ltd, whose parent company Cement Roadstone Holdings, was chaired by Mr Haughey's financial adviser, Des Traynor.

Roadstone had approached the Department about buying the land in 1987, and it was eventually sold by private treaty for a price less than that at which it had been valued by the Department. The site had been identified as one of great historical and archaeological importance.