Ahern refuses to review all decisions made by Burke as a minister

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern refused yesterday to review all decisions made by former disgraced Fianna Fáil Minister Ray Burke.

Following Albert Reynolds revelations that he asked the Taoiseach to check out Ray Burke’s handling of a £20 million passport-for-sale scheme, it emerged yesterday that former Justice Minister Máire Geoghegan-Quinn was also alarmed and concerned about the case.

A memo she left on the Department of Justice file about the Sheikh Khalid bin Mahfous case stated: “I have serious concerns about the granting of naturalisation to the 11 persons in this case. If full, thorough and satisfactory answers are not available, I am of the view that the certificates of naturalisation should if possible be revoked in each of the 11 cases.”

A Department of Justice report in January 1995 found that Mr Burke’s decision to sanction the passports was contrary to standard procedures.

But Mr Ahern told reporters yesterday that there was nothing wrong with the file. “While there were some peculiarities about how the file was dealt with, there was nothing wrong with the process and with the investment in the passport,” Mr Ahern said.

He said he asked Mrs Geoghegan-Quinn to bring him the file when Mr Reynolds alerted him to it in December 1994 and he reviewed it again when he became Taoiseach.

Asked if he saw anything in the file which raised alarm bells, Mr Ahern said: “No, I didn’t because I wouldn’t have appointed him if I did.”

Asked if he would now review all decisions made by Mr Burke as minister, Mr Ahern said he would not. “There are two tribunals doing that work at the moment.” But neither the Flood Tribunal or the Moriarty Tribunal would confirm last night if they were investigating all decisions made by Mr Burke during his 17 years as minister and junior minister. The Taoiseach said that particular file and all other files relating to the passport-for-sale scheme were subsequently passed on to the Moriarty Tribunal for investigation.

But the Moriarty Tribunal last night would not confirm if it was investigating any decision made by Mr Burke in the passport-for-sale scheme.

“We cannot confirm or deny if we are investigating any decision made by Ray Burke,” a Moriarty Tribunal spokesman said.

The Flood Tribunal, which has the scope to investigate any decision made by Mr Burke, could not confirm last night if it was investigating all decisions made by the disgraced Fianna Fáil minister.