Greens refuse to judge Ahern

THE Greens will not act as “moral watchdog” of Fianna Fáil in government, party leader John Gormley insisted yesterday.

Mr Gormley maintained near silence on Taoiseach Bertie Ahern’s dealings with the Mahon Tribunal, saying the inquiry should be allowed to take its course.

And despite the Greens being arguably Fianna Fáil’s most vociferous critic prior to the general election, Mr Gormley said his party would not be scrutinising the standards of their government partner.

“We’re not the moral watchdogs of any other party. We look after ourselves. We look after our own standards, our own morality. That’s what we said at the very beginning and that continues to be the case,” Mr Gormley said.

When asked if there was anything about Mr Ahern’s evidence to the tribunal he found confusing, Mr Gormley said: “As I said, we’ll have to await the findings of the tribunal. It would be wrong to pre-empt those findings, because in any democracy there is the presumption of innocence until proven guilty, so let’s await the findings.”

Mr Gormley’s predecessor as Green leader, Trevor Sargent, last year accused Mr Ahern of misleading the Dáil over the monies he received from businessmen in Manchester in the early 1990s.

Asked if he would now withdraw Mr Sargent’s accusation, Mr Gormley said that was a question that should be directed to Mr Sargent.