Corruption on a land scale

When Ben Dunne famously misbehaved and then lost it in Florida, who’d have foreseen the outcome? The great and good brought low, their conceits laid bare. Yes, there were other triggers. But that was the seminal moment that undid the unholy nexus of politicians, planners and property speculators.

Two tribunals are operating under Judges Moriarty and Flood. The Ansbacher inspection has finished its work. At a combined cost to date of €37million, a whole edifice has come unstuck, slowly and surely. We have heard an extraordinary range of allegations and disclosures and a cast of heroes and villains has been paraded.

Along the way we have heard of Mr Big and Mr Greedy. Frank Dunlop came as cock o’ the walk and left as a feather duster. Ray Burke left public life between disgrace and dudgeon. Liam Lawlor spent time in jail. We have heard of how Charles Haughey was subvented in his lifestyle.

Mr Justice Flood published a remarkable interim report this year. Blunt and clear, it was hailed as a model of its kind. He laid out unequivocally that Ray Burke knowingly took corrupt payments from builders and Century Radio...

Corrupt. Don’t you love that word? A dictionary or thesaurus will give you “rancid, rotten, mushy, decayed, morally declined’ as equivalents. There you have it – foul, putrid, rotting, defiled, mouldy from greed and sleaziness and self-interest. It summarises a certain kind of politics in a single word.

James Gogarty, who belled the cat, went to court and stood his ground. In his day he was of the dark side but, possibly in contemplation of the pearly gates, he came across to the path of the righteous. In so doing, he was villified and threatened. Whatever, he stuck it out, and was vindicated by Judge Flood, echoing his earlier lionisation by the Irish people.

The judge found that money changed hands with a view to changing planning permission and influencing policy, and that a lot of those involved had obstructed the tribunal in its work. He didn’t mince his words. Corrupt means corrupt. The effect was explosive and purgative.

A great cleansing is under way.