The source of massive payments to the then taoiseach Charles Haughey for 1988 are unknown, according to the Moriarty Report.

A year after his 1987 return to power Mr Haughey's finances had been turned around. Even though he spent £232,000 by way of his bill-paying service in 1988, he was still able to open a significant investment account with NCB.

However, key documents linked to his finances that year are missing from the microfiche archives of Guinness & Mahon bank.

The usual course for the tribunal was to follow a money trail from the bill-paying service operated for Mr Haughey by Deloitte & Touche, to accounts in Guinness & Mahon bank from which the bills were paid, to seek evidence concerning the original sources of the money.

The microfiche records sometimes, though not always, contained evidence showing where the money in the accounts had come from.

However, the records for 1988 were incomplete and the available records contained no links with the bill-paying service. The money trail disappeared.

The bill-paying service was funded by money over and above that earned by Mr Haughey from his job as taoiseach. He cashed his monthly pay cheques and spent the money directly. Also, in 1988 the Haughey family yacht was purchased for £120,000 sterling.

The La Tina of Hamble was brought from Gibraltar back to Ireland and renamed the Celtic Mist. It is not known who paid for the boat or who paid the £21,283 VAT bill that arose when it was brought into Ireland.

The Moriarty tribunal identified many of the people who gave Mr Haughey a total of £9.1 million in the period 1979 to 1996, but it did not identify anything like all the donors.

The year 1988 stands out as one for which the identities of the persons who gave him money, are particularly scarce..