Ahern denies efforts to bury bad EU news

BERTIE AHERN last night insisted he was not engaged in trying to “bury” bad EU news until the looming referendum on the EU treaty was out of the way.

As he hosted German chancellor Angela Merkel during a whistle-stop visit to Dublin, the Taoiseach dismissed claims by no vote campaigners that the Government had cut a secret deal with Brussels to keep controversial issues like business tax reform on the back burner until after the June poll.

Sinn Féin MEP Mary Lou McDonald accused ministers of “underhand” tactics in the run-up to the referendum. “They do not want a real debate and it is clear the EU is colluding in this approach and suppressing information from the electorate,” she said.