Small potatoes maybe, but a packed house stayed

AFTER Monday's revelations, many of us had suspected there was something rotten in the state of Ireland. Nobody guessed it was the potatoes, but we shouldn't have been surprised.

Potatoes have been a serious political issue since the middle of the last century, and yesterday at the tribunal they were again controversial. The affair of "the rotten spuds of Ballyvolane" dominated the morning. A bad smell lingered in the room throughout the afternoon.

Dublin Castle was crowded for the second day of the resumed hearings, reflecting a public interest heightened by Monday's dramas. The Ballyvolane Potatoes did not snatch the Ansbacher Deposits, but then nobody walked out either.

Mr Michael Lowry could have been French fried yesterday, but he had a relatively good day. A succession of witnesses attempted to explain his involvement in the 1995 potato incident, when he made inquiries to the Department of Agriculture over an impending prosecution of a Dunnes Stores shop in Cork; and the fact that the case finally resulted in prosecution and a Pounds 50 fine suggested it was indeed small potatoes.

Mr Bernard Walsh, a buyer of fresh produce for Dunnes, said he had approached the then minister as,an old friend. Indeed, Mr Lowry had proved himself in the hard currency of male friendship GAA match tickets. "He's never failed me," Mr Walsh assured the tribunal.

Still a little giddy from Monday's revelations, we half expected counsel for the tribunal to get up and tell us about the discovery of a secret cache of GAA match tickets coded with the letter "S".

The other main theme was Mr Lowry's alleged intervention in a Mullingar shopping development linked to Dunnes Stores. In the nearest we got to fireworks, the Fine Gael TD Mr Paul McGrath said he had told Mr Lowry to "eff off" when the former minister approached him in Leinster House, asking him to reconsider his opposition to special tax status for the development. This was sending out the "wrong messages", Mr Lowry had said.

Still at the back of the hall, Mr Lowry shook his head gravely at the mention of the "eff" letter. And sure enough prompted by further questioning, Mr McGrath conceded he had not in fact used "strong language". "You can say "eff" off in different ways," he explained, adding that Mr Lowry had "understood the need for me to look after my own constituency".

Recalled to the stand, Mr Ben Dunne confirmed with a chuckle that he had had no involvement in the Ballyvolane incident, but was more serious when asked how often he had met Mr Lowry since 1993. Indeed, Mr Dunne becomes so earnest in his efforts to answer some of the most routine questions that you sometimes fear he'll injure himself.

"Somewhere between 10 and 40," he offered, at the first attempt. Prompted, he tried again. "Over 10 and under 50," he estimated, adding: "I wouldn't see him a lot," Once a month? "Once a month is an awful lot of seeing somebody," he said, grave faced. Mr Lowry laughed along with the rest.

The former minister finally took the stand at 3.50 p.m., 10 minutes before the day's proceedings were due to end. He was led through his early years in business, when he was an apprentice in the firm of Butler Refrigeration in Thurles.

But just as he was getting into his stride, the apprentice boy was unceremoniously rerouted, as the tribunal rose for the day, on schedule.