Ahern accused of Hobbs dirty tricks campaign

FINE GAEL last night accused Taoiseach Bertie Ahern of ordering a dirty tricks campaign to try and destroy the credibility of consumer rights champion Eddie Hobbs.

Mr Ahern has unleashed an army of publicly funded spindoctors to smear the Rip-Off Republic presenter with an “avalanche of bad publicity”, the opposition claimed.

Dublin MEP and TD Gay Mitchell compared the onslaught to the activities of Haiti’s ex-dictator ‘Papa Doc’ Duvalier, famous for using his Tonton Macoutes militia on opponents.