No one knows better than Nora Owen how loose a cannon the planning tribunal can be, but even she may have been shocked by the criticism levelled at her by the tribunal's main witness, Mr James Gogarty.
The name of the former Minister for Justice had arisen on several occasions during Mr Gogarty's evidence, but it seemed unlikely he would bring her name up again. Yesterday, however, the tribunal heard for the first time a series of allegations made by Mr Gogarty in two letters to TDs in 1996 and 1997.
In a letter to the then PD deputy Mr Michael McDowell, he accused Mrs Owen of operating "double standards" and of thwarting an investigation by the courts. He said she was "not above suspicion" regarding fraud and corruption and had an "association" with the Murphy group "over the years".
He also accused the gardai of "widespread corruption" and claimed that "decent" politicians, investigative journalists and judges shared this view.
Mr Gogarty has never provided evidence for his allegations against Mrs Owen or the gardai, which do not appear in his sworn affidavit.
In 1997 he wrote to Mr Joe Higgins TD to complain about Mrs Owen's "repeated and unjustified and callous" dismissal of his calls for an inquiry into his allegations of intimidation by Mr Joseph Murphy jnr.
Mr Gogarty made representations about this through a number of politicians, but the Minister gave written answers rather than dealing with them on the floor of the Dail.
Mr Gogarty told Mr Higgins he wanted an inquiry into Mrs Owen's conduct and that of the Garda detective who dealt with his allegations against Mr Murphy. He also called for an inquiry into his allegations of "white-collar crime, bribery, corruption, etc, including corruption in the planning process, including currently serving politicians".
Fresh from a week's break, he was generally quick-witted and feisty. In his first day of cross-examination by Mr Colm Allen SC, for the developer Mr Michael Bailey, he was quick to correct counsel in small matters and slow to have words put in his mouth.
His repartee was smooth and appealed to the public gallery. When Mr Allen referred to him as the tribunal's "star" witness, he responded: "If you put any more stars on me, I'll be up in Heaven."
Mr Allen suggested he was "utterly indifferent" to corruption. The only reason he was there was to "damnify" his former employers. "Isn't it as plain as the rather substantial nose on my face that all you have sought to do is to damnify anyone who gets in you way?" he asked.
"First of all, your nose is nearly covered with your bloody moustache and your beard," Mr Gogarty replied. Mr Allen apologised for his "hirsute" appearance.
Mr Gogarty's account of the meeting at which at least £30,000 was handed over to Mr Ray Burke in 1989 has probably gone down in history by now. But Mr Allen was incredulous yesterday at an earlier claim by the witness that he asked Mr Bailey that they get a receipt for the money. "Will we fuck!" was Mr Bailey's alleged response.
"Which, I presume, wasn't an invitation," Mr Allen added.
"Do you seriously ask the tribunal to accept that you and others actually considered getting a receipt from a Government minister whom you were seeking to bribe?" he asked. "Was he going to take down his `bribery and corruption' receipt book and write `received James Gogarty: £30,000'?"
Mr Allen opened his cross-examination cautiously, though it wasn't long before the two men were engaged in heated exchanges. By the end, he was referring to the witness bluntly as a "liar", a word his colleague, Mr Garrett Cooney SC, had avoided using.
The nearest Mr Allen came to springing his promised ambush was when he suggested that Mr Gogarty, with 50 years' experience in the construction business, would be familiar with the "procurement" of Government contracts.
For the witness, that smacked too closely of Mr Bailey's famous letter of 1989, when he promised to "procure" planning permission for the Murphy lands in north Co Dublin.
Mr Gogarty said he didn't like the word. In his business, they had always tendered openly and obtained jobs on merit.
Mr Allen insisted the word was "perfectly proper" and brandished the dictionary definition to prove his point. But the chairman tired of the dispute and moved matters on.
This being tribunal-land, there was the expected unexpected event. This time it was a fire alarm which went off in midmorning and forced the evacuation of the hall. Proceedings got under way again after 20 minutes, and the chairman explained that the alarm had been activated by someone smoking illicitly elsewhere in Dublin Castle.