Cash crisis 'biggest' of Ahern's 30-year career

The cash donations controversy has been the biggest crisis to rock the nine-year premiership of Bertie Ahern.

It is also believed to have been one of the most distressing periods in his 30-year political career, as it dragged his painful 1993 separation from wife Miriam Kelly into the harsh media spotlight.

After the controversy broke, Mr Ahern admitted some payments were made to him in 1993 but he persistently shunned media inquiries in recent days as Opposition leaders demanded clarification.

He said last week’s newspaper report was a calculated leak designed to damage him as the Dáil (Irish parliament) resumed after its three-month summer break.

With a difficult General Election nine weeks away, Mr Ahern now hopes his bid for a third consecutive term won’t be jeopardised.

The Tánaiste and Progressive Democrats leader Michael McDowell is believed to have received a copy of tonight’s statement before the interview.

Sources said the text was drafted by Mr Ahern and close aides, with the help of accountants and lawyers.

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny earlier called on Mr Ahern to reveal who paid him, how much was paid, whether payments were made directly or indirectly, and if any of those who gave donations benefited from the state subsequently.

Before tonight’s interview, Mr McDowell said that he believed Mr Ahern is an honest man.

“I have no doubt about the Taoiseach’s integrity,” he added.

But Mr Kenny said Mr Ahern was guilty of double standards here and had compromised the office of the Taoiseach.”

Mr Kenny pointed to the fact that Junior Transport Minister Ivor Callely was forced to resign in December 2005 after comparatively minor claims that a building contractor involved in public contracts had painted his house for free in the early 1990s.

RTÉ’s Six One flagship programme, on which anchor Bryan Dobson pre-recorded tonight’s interview with Mr Ahern, has been the scene of politically-fraught events in the past.

In 1990, Tánaiste and Fianna Fáil’s presidential election candidate Brian Lenihan looked directly into a camera and asked viewers to believe that he did not make improper phonecalls to then President Patrick Hillary in the late 1970s.

Mr Lenihan was later defeated in the polls by Labour candidate Mary Robinson.

In late 1991, an emotional Foreign Affairs Minister Gerry Collins begged Albert Reynolds not “wreck our party right down the centre” and “burst up government” by challenging the leadership of Mr Haughey.

The performance was believed to have ruined Mr Collins’ own leadership ambitions.

The Six One programme was also once anchored by former Government press secretary Sean Duignan.

Across the RTÉ corridor in The Late Late Show studio, European Commissioner and Fianna Fáil TD Padraig Flynn drew unprecedented jeers from the audience in 1999 when he bragged about his salaries and properties at home and abroad.