Ahern 'must clarify Real IRA reports'

Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte has said that Taoiseach Bertie Ahern still has many questions to answer about alleged contacts between his Government and the Real IRA after the 1998 Omagh bombing.

Mr Ahern has denied the allegations, but newspaper reports said his former Northern advisor, Martin Mansergh, contacted a Belfast priest shortly after the August 1998 attack in an effort to open talks with the paramilitary organisation.