Kenny: Turner should clear name at tribunal

THE wealthy Manchester developer at the centre of the Taoiseach and the passport row should “clear up his end of the story” at the Mahon Tribunal, the Fine Gael leader said yesterday.

Enda Kenny also said that as far as he is aware, his party never had any relationship with the multi-millionaire Norman Turner who was behind the unsuccessful Phoenix Park casino project in the 1990s.

It emerged on Wednesday night that Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, in his capacity as finance minister in 1994, helped Mr Turner, whose mother is from Cork, to obtain an Irish passport.

Speaking in Cork, Mr Kenny said: “Assuming Mr Turner now has an Irish passport, he should be invited by the Taoiseach to come before the tribunal in the interest of clearing up his end of the story.”

He said the row over the handling of the passport application is of the Taoiseach’s own making.

He defended Fine Gael’s handling of the situation and said it was his party’s duty to highlight the “unusual” circumstances.

“Here we have a multimillionaire business man who we know gave $10,000 in cash to the Fianna Fáil party,” he said.

“Mr Turner was well-known in Fianna Fáil circles and had his application for a passport processed through the office of the then minister for finance.”

Mr Kenny said he has helped with passport applications but that the vast majority were for “ordinary people” who had simply lost their passports.

“This is a party that believes its members are above the law, that they are untouchable, that they can say what they like and do what they live, and people will turn a blind eye to it,” Mr Kenny said.

People will make their own judgments, he added.

“All of these circumstances, this chain of events, are acting as an anchor dragging down this Government from focusing on the real issues affecting our economy, the challenges in health, crime and education.”

His comments came as the Taoiseach strongly hit out at suggestions that passports were for sale.

Mr Ahern insisted that he was not covering up close links to the multimillionaire businessman.

Meanwhile, Enterprise Minister Micheál Martin, accused Fine Gael of politicising the tribunal.

“Fine Gael should stop trying to be the tribunal,” he said.

“They seem to want to comment on it every single day, they want to make recommendations to it every single day, and submit materials to it every single day,” he said.

“The passport for that gentleman [Norman Turner] has nothing to do with Quarryvale II. They should leave it to chairman and tribunal.”