After the statement from Mr Justice Moriarty yesterday about his ownership of a £500,000 shareholding in Cement Roadstone Holdings (CRH), it is obvious the Moriarty tribunal will find itself in a very difficult position if its inquiries come to involve the publicly quoted company.
Even before the tribunal was established, there were calls for inquiries into CRH. Revelations from the McCracken tribunal concerning the activities of the late Mr Des Traynor, who acted as a financial adviser to Mr Charles Haughey and set up and operated the Ansbacher deposits, in turn led to fresh controversy concerning the sale of Glen Ding woods, in Wicklow, to CRH in 1991.
The woods were sold by the then Department of Energy without tenders being sought. The fact that Mr Haughey was Taoiseach at the time, and Mr Traynor was chairman of CRH, led to calls from those unhappy with the circumstances of the sale that it be investigated by any tribunal which followed on from McCracken.
This position was supported in the Dail by Fine Gael, which during the debate on the establishment of the Moriarty tribunal supported an unsuccessful amendment that an inquiry into the Glen Ding sale should form part of the tribunal's terms of reference. It was decided that this should not be done, and that the tribunal should be given less prescriptive terms of reference.
It emerged yesterday, in a statement from Mr Justice Moriarty, that at the time the tribunal was being established he informed the Attorney General, Mr David Byrne, that he had a shareholding, worth in excess of £500,000, in CRH. He also asked that the leaders of the political parties be informed.
"The Attorney General subsequently informed me that he had spoken to the party leaders and disclosed to them my shareholding in CRH and my apprehension that in certain circumstances this could give rise to a perceived conflict of interest which would preclude my inquiring into certain matters. I was informed by the Attorney General that the party leaders acknowledged that my appointment on those terms would not cause them to have any concern."
The current issue of Magill magazine, published yesterday, disclosed Mr Justice Moriarty's shareholding in CRH. The chairman said he issued instructions for the sale of the shares last Friday and that this was effected on Monday morning. He was not aware of the impending Magill article until Tuesday afternoon, he said. He believes that his having held the shares "precludes my inquiring into any matter concerning either Glen Ding or Cement Roadstone Holdings" - and that this would be the case even if he had sold the shares prior to his appointment.
Last night Labour Party councillor on Wicklow County Council Mr Thomas Cullen said he was extremely unhappy with the development. Mr Cullen has long campaigned for an inquiry into the sale of Glen Ding wood. He said the Dail Committee on Public Accounts and the Comptroller and Auditor General, in their reports on the sale, have expressed reservations about it. He is a member of the Blessington Heritage Trust, which was refused representation at the Moriarty tribunal when its public hearings commenced. He said the chairman should have declared his CRH shareholding during that public hearing.
Mr Cullen also referred to the fact that CRH bought lands at Kinsealy, Co Dublin, from Mr Haughey, for £140,000, in 1973 or 1974. The tribunal's terms of reference refer to payments made after January 1st, 1979; however, they elsewhere refer to the source of all funds in the Ansbacher deposits belonging to Mr Haughey. If the CRH money was lodged to those accounts, the tribunal could well have a difficulty.
Fianna Fail TD Mr Dick Roche from Wicklow, who has also taken a strong interest in Glen Ding wood, said inquiries to date into the sale have found difficulties at "administrative" rather than "political" level.
However, Mr Roche posed the question as to what the tribunal will do if a political involvement in the sale is discovered. Nor is it clear from Mr Justice Moriarty's statement whether the tribunal has, as part of its private inquiries, considered the Glen Ding sale. If the tribunal comes across significant payments from CRH to Mr Haughey, then its chairman will be in a very difficult position. Yesterday's revelations also raise questions for the Government and the political parties, who agreed to Mr Justice Moriarty's appointment.