Family hit out at Ahern over White House invite

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern last night insisted he had no role in inviting the family of murdered Dublin courier Joseph Rafferty to the White House on St Patrick’s Day.

Relatives of the father-of-one, who want to bring their campaign for justice to the attention of US President George W Bush, have accused Mr Ahern of sparing Sinn Féin’s blushes.

Mr Rafferty’s family claim he was shot dead last April by a former member of the IRA and want Sinn Féin to co-operate with the garda investigation.

The 29-year-old’s sister, Esther Uzell, wants the Taoiseach to ensure that family members can get to Washington to exert political pressure on Sinn Féin.

But Mr Ahern last night reiterated that only the White House issues invites to guests for the St Patrick’s Day event.

He said: “It has been a more restricted event in recent years. Last year there was a number of groups invited whom President George Bush met.

“The invitations are exclusively a matter for the White House as it is the same if I was running an event in the Dáil or President McAleese was in Áras an Uachtaráin.

“I haven’t control over who the president invites. You could imagine if I had, every organisation would be on to me looking to go.”

Mr Rafferty’s family have mounted a justice campaign inspired by the sisters of murdered Belfast man Robert McCartney.