Government launching sinister attack on probe, claims FG

FINE GAEL last night accused the Government of launching a “sinister” bid to intimidate the Mahon Tribunal as seven ministers attacked the inquiry.

Defence Minister Willie O’Dea was so aggressive in his defence of the Taoiseach, RTÉ shut-off his microphone on the News at One to allow other guests the chance to speak uninterrupted.

Opposition parties said Fianna Fáil was trying to “hijack” the workings of the tribunal through a co-ordinated media campaign against the corruption investigation.

Mr O’Dea insisted the questioning of Bertie Ahern had been “invasive”.

“I’m waiting for the day the tribunal is going to go back to Bertie Ahern’s First Communion day and start questioning what he did with his First Communion money,” he said.

Labour leader Eamon Gilmore ridiculed the minister’s comments.

“This isn’t about the First Communion money, £80,000 would be a lot of First Communion money,” he said referring to various “dig-outs” and whip rounds the Taoiseach has pointed to as explanations for large cash lodgements into his accounts in the mid-1990s.

Fine Gael’s Charlie O’Connor warned Fianna Fáil was orchestrating a well planned attack on the tribunal which saw Dermot Ahern, Micheál Martin, Martin Cullen and four other ministers criticise the inquiry.

Ministers have singled out Mahon Tribunal counsel Des O’Neill for the harshest treatment.

“This is a sinister and concerted attempt by Fianna Fáil to hijack the workings of a tribunal set up by the Oireachtas to investigate corruption, it should be resisted by those in the political, legal and media worlds.

“I can understand and accept that this is a very awkward time for them. The Taoiseach that they have all backed so publicly regarding the lodgement of huge sums of cash when he was Minister for Finance in the 1990s is now having his fantastic tales... demolished by forensic examination by the tribunal,” said Mr O’Connor.

Europe Minister Dick Roche launched one of the most blistering onslaughts against the tribunal. He accused it of being “petty” and “prurient” — a line echoed by ministers throughout the day.

Mr Gilmore said the Government was determined to undermine the workings of the probe: “A disturbing feature of the past two days has been the clearly concerted attempt by Fianna Fáil to undermine the authority of a tribunal of inquiry established by the Oireachtas.

“This has all the appearances of a prepared strategy, agreed at ministerial level, with a succession of government ministers able to make themselves available at short notice to back up the Taoiseach’s unfounded claims.

“The tribunal is following the ‘money trail’, an approach recommended by the Taoiseach when the planning tribunal was established in 1997,” the Labour leader said.