No conflict of interest, says Byrne on CRH

The Attorney General, Mr David Byrne SC, last night issued a statement concerning his involvement in the appointment of the chairman of the Moriarty tribunal.

Mr Byrne said he believed the fact that he had acted for Cement Roadstone Holdings (CRH), just before his appointment as Attorney General, did not mean there was any conflict of interest in the role he played at the time of the appointment of Mr Justice Moriarty.

Mr Justice Moriarty told Mr Byrne in September 1997 that he would accept the appointment as chairman on condition that the leaders of the political parties were informed that because he, Mr Justice Moriarty, had a shareholding in CRH, he would consider himself precluded from inquiring into matters concerning that company, including its controversial purchase of Glen Ding Wood from the State in 1991.

Mr Byrne represented CRH in the High Court in June 1997 in a case where the Blessington Heritage Trust was contesting the rezoning by Wicklow County Council of the Glen Ding Wood from amenity to quarrying. The rezoning was quashed.

The Attorney General said that when his office was considering 29 amendments to the terms of reference of the tribunal, at the time of its establishment in September 1997, he informed the Taoiseach in writing that he had acted for CRH and, as he might be regarded as having a conflict of interest in relation to the issue, he would refrain from making any comment in relation to an amendment which would have included the sale of Glen Ding Wood in the tribunal's terms of reference.

The matter was considered by a senior officer in his department, who advised that whether or not to include such an investigation was a matter of policy. Mr Byrne's general advice in relation to the terms of reference was "that specific issues of controversy should not be included".