The second instalment of the Larry Goodman programme shown on RTÉ on Monday evening brought us right up to date in Goodman's career.

Much of the programme featured the long-running beef tribunal.

While theoretically it was set up to look into the Irish beef sector, in reality it focused on the Goodman group and the reports of widespread allegations of abuses of the various support schemes that operated under the European Economic Community (EEC) as it was at that time.

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It opened with the Goodman enterprises being saved by the examinership process that took place in the summer of 1989.

Outcome

The abuses were real, but where the fault lay was never made clear in the tribunal's report or during the various testimonies. Larry Goodman denied that any such actions took place under his direction.

The only real outcome was the fining by Brussels of £100m on Ireland and a recognition that the Department of Agriculture lacked the systems to adequately control the huge volumes of beef going through the EU support mechanisms.

It is much easier now, with neither export refunds nor intervention in operation.

The report of over 900 pages was not finished until July 1994.

By that stage, Larry Goodman was well on his way to regaining full control of his business, with severe losses having been incurred by a range of banks, though AIB's losses were minimal thanks, it was assumed, to Ned O'Callaghan’s astute judgment.

O'Callaghan was their head of agribusiness for many years. He died just a few weeks ago.

Lending

One aspect not covered by the programme was the banks' lending of huge sums to AIBP without any real security in many cases.

Another point that was made at the time was the apparent reluctance of the presiding judge, later the chief justice Liam Hamilton (appointed by the Albert Reynolds government), to apportion blame to any individual, either political, administrative or those in business.

I was surprised to see Eugene Regan, the former Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) man in Brussels and now a judge in the European Court, appear on the programme.

Most people knew that Liam Lawlor, the tough Dublin-based TD, had close links with both Charlie Haughey and, through his refrigeration firm, Larry Goodman.

Lawlor's subsequent death in a car crash outside Moscow was a terrible end to a controversial career.

The programme rightly included Goodman's well-judged diversification into the health sector, though I still suspect that Goodman's primary interest still lies in cattle and agribusiness.

Recently, his long-standing investment in the Polish meat sector has made significant inroads into markets previously held by other Irish players.

It is ironic that his Polish beef suppliers are now paid more than his Irish ones, according to the latest Bord Bia market intelligence bulletin.