Ahern capable of secret Sinn Féin deal, warns Kenny

FINE Gael leader Enda Kenny mounted an extraordinary attack on Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, yesterday, accusing him of being capable of forging clandestine deals with Sinn Féin to remain in power.

Mr Kenny yesterday intensified his criticism of Mr Ahern’s weekend comments that it would be “unreasonable” for him to reject the unsolicited support of Sinn Féin in a vote for government in the next Dáil.

Dramatically ramping up his criticisms, Mr Kenny yesterday portrayed the Taoiseach’s position as “totally unconvincing” and accused the Taoiseach of being ready to accept SF support to remain in power.

The Taoiseach last night rejection the claim.

His spokesperson added that the Taoiseach’s view was if other parties wished to spend their time debating who they will or won’t go into Government with, that was a matter for them.

The Taoiseach did not want to speculate any further, said the spokesperson, and would now focus on “real issues”.

Mr Kenny stopped short of alleging that a secret deal was in place with Sinn Féin, but strongly implied that such an arrangement could not be ruled out.

“The Irish people know Fianna Fáil’s track record of secret deals with Sinn Féin and [the] IRA, including the release of the murderers of Garda Jerry McCabe, Dáil speaking rights for Sinn Féin’s Westminster MPs and the granting of presidential pardons to ‘on the runs’,” Mr Kenny asserted.

He claimed that Fianna Fáil would do the same again after the General Election.

He went on to argue that accepting Sinn Féin support for a minority Fianna Fáil government would allow SF to hold sway over government decisions, with neither responsibility nor accountability.

“In my view, that would be dangerous for our democracy because of their long track record in demanding unreasonable and unacceptable concessions,” he claimed.

Yesterday, the PDs also entered the fray taking Fine Gael to task over its claimed levels of support.

Fine Gael has said its current support levels of 27% are the highest ever recorded by opinion polls.

However, a PD pointed out that Fine Gael enjoyed support of 30% in one MRBI poll, before the 1997 General Election.