McDowell wants Ahern statement before polling day

BERTIE AHERN cannot credibly seek re-election as Taoiseach unless he answers in full the questions surrounding his personal finances, Tánaiste Michael McDowell said yesterday.

At a hastily-arranged press conference at 10.30am in Dublin’s Morrison Hotel, the PD leader sparked a day of political drama by suggesting Mr Ahern had misled him last autumn when accounting for the so-called Bertiegate controversy.

“From a number of sources I’ve come into the possession of information which would suggest that the account given to me last autumn was incomplete and misleading,” Mr McDowell told reporters.