The Mahon Tribunal evidence builds up further and further, making the tenure of the Taoiseach more difficult.
Bank details are hard to argue with, as they are in black and white. Some people may have some memory loss but it is hard to argue with banks when they have records of foreign exchange transactions.
The whole issue seems to be dragging on more and more. Would it not be better to conclude the outstanding matters more quickly and not have a constant drip of news? There will be tax implications also in this matter, with the Revenue keeping a keen eye on the evidence.
These account details are now in the possession of the Tribunal, a quicker determination of the problem areas and an admission of the difficulties faced would be better for all concerned and could bring some saving in cost.
The public know there are problems, but the longer it takes the less interest will be shown.
We would hope that the Mahon report will not take too long to be written and will be concluded this year. The longer it takes the more unstable the Government becomes. The economy is getting weaker and we feel that
Tribunal uncertainty does not help the standing of the Taoiseach.
At times the Tribunal seems to have a will of its own and works on various modules. Would it not be better to get some of these modules into a particular timeframe and get a more rapid conclusion in these matters, which is not good for democracy.
The issue of corrupt payments is what they are trying to investigate. Conflicting evidence was found out last week from a secretarial worker in a constituency office.
The Mahon Tribunal still has the ability to surprise, but can we get a conclusion on it this year perhaps?