FF senator won’t vote on Bertie banishment

The Fianna Fáil senator who abstained on a vote to move to expel Bertie Ahern from the party has said she will not vote on the actual motion next week and that people are jumping on the bandwagon over the findings of the Mahon Report.

Senator Mary White was one of just two people who abstained this week from a party vote on whether to move to expel the former taoiseach Bertie Ahern from Fianna Fáil. The other abstainer was party member Kathryn Byrne.

The fallout from the inquiry will see Fianna Fáil vote on the expulsion of Mr Ahern next Friday, as well as a motion to kick out former minister Pádraig Flynn and three former councillors.

Speaking to the Irish Examiner yesterday, Ms White said she was annoyed over being asked why she abstained from the vote, which was brought forward by party leader Micheál Martin.

She said she had done so as the Mahon Report had not found Mr Ahern corrupt. She added: “Number one was he wasn’t found corrupt. The other people were found corrupt. I studied the document and he wasn’t found corrupt. So do you give the same punishment to people who were found corrupt and weren’t found corrupt?”

Asked what she thought of the tribunal’s findings that Mr Ahern had failed to account for payments he received totalling £215,000, the three-time elected senator said: “They’re all jumping on the bandwagon. I’m standing over [the vote] ... I’m right. I’ll do exactly the same thing, I’ll abstain. I’m sticking to my opinion and that’s it,” she said.

Bertie Ahern’s brother also leaped to his defence and accused party leader Micheál Martin of acting macho in moving to expel his sibling from the party.

Responding to the report, Noel Ahern queried the motivation behind Mr Martin’s move to kick Bertie Ahern out of Fianna Fáil.

The former minister also said he was very happy that the inquiry had made no finding of corruption in relation to his brother.

Speaking on RTÉ radio, Noel Ahern said: “I don’t know what the mad rush is.

“To me, as a party person, one should reflect on it and do what you think is appropriate after that, but you shouldn’t be using it to build your own media image.

“There might be an accusation of new leader trying to show how macho and decisive he is,” he added.