Shortly after the setting up of the Flood Tribunal in October 1997 its chairman and sole member, Mr Justice Flood, told the Government he would not be able to meet the end-of-the-year deadline for his report. More than a year later he is only now about to start hearing evidence.
In the meantime the tribunal has had a roller-coaster ride of successes and setbacks. Its terms of reference have been extended twice, it has been the subject of two sets of proceedings in the High Court and one in the Supreme Court, it has had its work seriously affected by separate legal proceedings against the Moriarty Tribunal, it has had to deal with attempts to have the proceedings adjourned and leaks to the media.
The substance of the allegations which led to the setting up of the tribunal will start being heard tomorrow, when Mr James Gogarty, the former executive of a property development company, takes the stand.
It was a letter from Mr Michael Bailey, of the Bovale Construction company, and Mr Gogarty, then an executive with the structural engineering company JMSE, which led to the decision to set up a tribunal to look into aspects of the planning process relating to 726 acres of land in north Dublin in the mid-1980s. The letter referred to getting "a majority vote at two full council meetings" for planning permission.
This followed an admission from Mr Ray Burke, then minister for foreign affairs, that he had received £30,000 from JMSE for election expenses. Mr Burke later resigned.
The tribunal got off to a shaky start, with a dispute with the Government over the fees to be paid to counsel. It started its hearings in January last year, when lawyers for Mr Burke, Mr Bailey, JMSE, a number of other property-owners in the north Dublin area and a raft of politicians and their parties sought legal representation. Mr Gogarty also indicated his need for such representation.
Then in March, lawyers for Mr Bailey and his wife, Theresa, obtained a temporary order in the High Court restraining the tribunal from seeking bank documents relating to their company, Bovale. Meanwhile, former Taoiseach Mr Charles Haughey had taken similar action against the Moriarty Tribunal, which was seeking bank documents relating to his affairs and those of certain members of his family.
In May, the High Court ruled that the Flood Tribunal did have the power to seek the Bovale records.
In the meantime the tribunal was carrying on its investigations in private. It went to the Government seeking an extension of its terms of reference, which it obtained in March, allowing it to investigate allegations relating to events prior to June 20th, 1985.
But this hoist up a ladder was followed by a slide down a snake when the Supreme Court ruled that the Moriarty Tribunal had not followed fair procedures in seeking bank documents relating to Mr Haughey without informing him. This had the effect of also overturning similar orders for discovery made by the Flood Tribunal.
At the same time it emerged that Rennicks, a subsidiary of Mr Tony O'Reilly's Fitzwilton Group, had given £30,000 to Mr Burke. The tribunal served orders for discovery on Forbairt and the IDA relating to grants to Fitzwilton companies, clearly not planning matters. Following these revelations the terms of reference were amended further, allowing the tribunal itself to amend them, and to take in this payment.
Another allegation of corruption in planning surfaced when Mr Tom Gilmartin, a property developer, said he made a £50,000 donation to Fianna Fail via EU Commissioner Mr Padraig Flynn. Mr Flynn and Fianna Fail have declined to discuss this, preferring to await its emergence at the tribunal. This may not now happen, as Mr Gilmartin recently said he was withdrawing his co-operation with it, and a spokesman for the Taoiseach said Mr Ahern had not been called to give evidence to the tribunal.
No allegations had been put by the tribunal to Mr Ahern nor had he been asked to respond to any allegations by others.
There were still troubles ahead. In November, some of the allegations contained in Mr Gogarty's affidavit surfaced in the Sunday Independent, prompting an investigation by the gardai and the tribunal, on the basis that its work was being jeopardised.
Another threat to the work of the tribunal was averted when the Supreme Court rejected an attempt by the former Dublin city and county assistant manager, Mr George Redmond, to prevent it hearing allegations against him in public, and urged that the tribunal proceed without further delays.