Latest leak scare over in 2 hours

It was the quickest investigation the tribunal is ever likely to complete. Two hours is all it took for Mr Justice Flood to plumb the latest leak Mr Ray Burke's lawyer claimed the tribunal had sprung.

Mr Eoin McGonigal SC had been doing some bedside listening the previous evening and did not like what he heard on the Vincent Browne show, in particular, some comments about Mr Burke made by Evening Herald journalist Katie Hannon, which, he said, had been attributed to a "solicitor of the tribunal".

This was, prima facie, a leak "of the most serious kind", Mr McGonigal intoned. He was "deeply concerned". His intervention brought matters to a standstill. The scribblers at the press desks kept their heads down. The chairman promised an immediate investigation.

Thirty minutes later, the two tribunal solicitors had been interviewed and were eliminated from the chairman's inquiries. Mr Justice Flood was anxious to continue hearing Mr Gogarty's evidence.

But Mr McGonigal was not. "Is there any useful purpose in me being here?" he asked, before sauntering out of the hall with his solicitor.

However, by early afternoon, the case was solved. Ms Hannon apologised. She admitted her phraseology was clumsy but said she had not talked to any of the tribunal lawyers. The chairman congratulated Ms Hannon for having the bravery to admit her mistake. Mr McGonigal stayed silent. Investigation closed.

Sandwiched between this media sideshow, Mr Gogarty made a short and faltering appearance in the witness box. Disoriented from the start, he exhausted himself quickly by reading out reams of correspondence dealing with his pension, then sat bemused when Mr John Gallagher SC, for the tribunal, read out more letters at high speed.

Many of the public seats were occupied yesterday by elderly former colleagues and supporters of Mr Gogarty. One even brought him a bouquet of flowers, with a dedication thanking him for "standing up" to the Irish building lobby.

At times, though, Mr Gogarty seemed near collapse. His evidence was punctuated by long pauses to recover breath and he sat slumped in the box, hand on his brow, for much of the time. No one in Dublin Castle begrudged him his four-day break until he resumes evidence on Tuesday.