Ahern in row over remarks on parents’ court case
Labour leader Pat Rabbitte yesterday claimed the Taoiseach had quoted from a “partisan in camera document” from the court case relating to custody of the children of Pat and Mary O’Hara from Kells. The extract read by the Taoiseach last week included details of specific allegations made by health officials.
Mr Ahern last week said: “As a result of verbal abuse received by telephone from Ms O’Hara, the case manager resigned. Following his resignation, Ms O’Hara visited his house and was asked to leave by the case manager’s spouse.
“However, Ms O’Hara returned and this violation of privacy has had a further distressing impact on the staff member whose family and home have now been inappropriately involved in the service issue.”
The Taoiseach also told the Dáil officials had “to take into account the threats that were made on the lives of the children.”
“The allegation in the document was found to be untrue in court,” said Mr Rabbitte yesterday.
Mr Ahern’s divulging of details from an in camera document from a family law case, the Labour leader said, was unprecedented in the history of the Dáil. He demanded Mr Ahern correct the record of the house.
But Mr Ahern robustly stood over his remarks, saying he would not retract nor withdraw them.
He said he had received an email from the O’Hara family following last week’s Dáil exchanges and had emailed back to the family apologising for the distress that had been caused.
But Mr Rabbitte described the Taoiseach’s reply to the family as a “sneaky email” in that it suggested the distress was caused by the Labour leader bringing the matter up in the Dáil and not to the detailed allegations Mr Ahern repeated.
A spokeswoman for the Taoiseach last night said it was Mr Rabbitte who had brought up the matter.
Last night, Mr Rabbitte said he was “amazed” Mr Ahern had not apologised.
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