I know very little about Beverly Flynn, so I am certainly not going to defend her in a general way.
I will say this: there is little or no genuine investigative journalism in Ireland. At editorial level, a newspaper decides to look for a scalp. Having selected a victim, they then they do all in their power to bring someone down. When they succeed (as they usually do), they attribute this to 'good investigative journalism'. It is in my opinion an abuse of power. It is the reason why Brian Cowen feels obliged to call to Tony O'Reilly's house during an election campaign.
The 'scoop' on the front page of the Independent today is in its essence that somebody bought a site on which planning permission had first been obtained by somebody else. There is no suggestion at all of anything illegal. Outside the Greater Dublin Area, you can't drive around any part of rural Ireland without seeing signs such as "site for sale" or "Site for sale - local needs only" or "Site for sale - No Clauses" festooning every junction. I personally disagree with the planning policies which allow this to happen, but we live in a democracy, so I have to accept it.
Will the Irish Independent now "out" anybody else who has bought a site on which somebody else first got planning? They had better be prepared to carry no other news on the front page for the next couple of years. Will this list include all of the great and the good at the Irish Independent itself?