FIANNA FÁIL’S investigation into the Lorcan Allen affair failed to discover where the councillor got the 2,000 Oireachtas prepaid envelopes he used to send out his bogus letters.

Serious questions remain to be answered about Fianna Fáil’s Lorcan Allen and the bogus letter affair, county councillors said yesterday.

FIANNA FÁIL came to power in 1997 promising zero tolerance on crime — but this week we have been witnessing a policy of extreme tolerance in relation to the Lorcan Allen affair and the smoking ban.

The Fianna Fáil national executive has voted to suspend Wexford Councillor Lorcan Allen from the party for 12 months.

Fianna Fail’s forged letter councillor Lorcan Allen was kicked out of the party for a year last night and removed from the party’s ruling body.

A FORMER TD and junior minister who forged Taoiseach Bertie Ahern’s signature in a bogus letter sent to voters in the run-up to the local elections will likely escape censure from the party, his unsuccessful running mate believes.

IF you have a bit of a cash-flow problem at the moment, or the credit rating is lacking credibility for that loan you need, you could always get the Taoiseach to go guarantor.

THE Government last night insisted Fianna Fáil councillor Lorcan Allen, who sent letters to more than 2,000 constituents with the forged signature of Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, has not been “let off the hook”.

The arrogance of those seeking to gloss over the Lorcan Allen letter controversy is breathtaking.

The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, has insisted that he had no prior knowledge of his forged signature being used on a leaflet distributed by a Fianna Fáil candidate in Co Wexford ahead of the recent local elections.

A LOCAL election candidate who lost out to a party colleague who forged a letter containing Taoiseach Bertie Ahern’s signature said yesterday he kept quiet about it “for the good of the party”.

It is a preposterous notion that an election candidate can both misappropriate the Taoiseach’s signature and misuse Oireachtas material to gain electoral advantage, and that his election is afterwards allowed stand.

THE abuse of some of the 4.75 million postage-paid Oireachtas envelopes issued to TDs and senators every year is set to be probed by a parliamentary watchdog.

NO action is to be taken against a Fianna Fáil councillor who has admitted producing and distributing a bogus letter, purporting to be signed by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, seeking support for him in the local election.

A Fianna Fáil county councillor today admitted full responsibility for a false letter signed by the Taoiseach which was sent to voters before polling day.

FIANNA FÁIL are to investigate a letter bearing the fake signature of the Taoiseach that was supporting the re-election of a candidate in the local elections.