Ahern under pressure to clarify financial dealings

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was tonight forced by his Coalition partners to make a statement on controversies surrounding his financial affairs.

The move comes at the end of a dramatic week General Election campaign and after the Progressive Democrats party threatened to quit the Government.

Mr Ahern, who previously insisted he would deal with the issue after the May 24 polling day, will consult his lawyers later this week and then prepare a statement.

PD leader Michael McDowell said that a briefing given to him by the Taoiseach last Autumn on his 1990s financial affairs was “very partial, incomplete and - at best – selective”.

He was speaking after he said he received new information from a number of sources.

He said pulling out of Government would serve no useful purpose and he called on Mr Ahern to make a full statement to clear up the matters.

Opposition leaders claimed the Coalition was in meltdown but three senior Fianna Fail ministers all backed their leader.

The Mahon Tribunal is probing an allegation that Co Cork property developer Owen O’Callaghan gave Mr Ahern money – a claim both men have denied. Mr Ahern has also denied any personal links to a £30,000 cash payment given to his ex-partner Celia Larkin in 1994 to renovate his rented home.

Speaking about the possibility of making a statement, the Taoiseach said tonight: "If I can pull all of the stuff together, I am not adverse to doing that.“

He added: “I’m going to Northern Ireland on Tuesday morning so there is no way I can talk to my legal team until Wednesday or Thursday. But I’ll do it.”

Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte said: “It is clear from the developments of the past 24 hours that there is only one credible, stable alternative government.”

Mr McDowell earlier told a press conference that Mr Ahern told him last Autumn that the purchase of Mr Ahern’s house from a Manchester businessman in the early 1990s was “an arms-length transaction on commercial terms for full value”.

But he added: “There is reason now to query whether that could possibly be so.”

Mr McDowell said he hadn’t spoken to the Taoiseach in three days.

He added: “I don’t see any reason why I should be sacked [by the Taoiseach]. I am standing up for and vindicating good standards in Irish life.”

Speculation was rife on Saturday that the PDs would quit government but Minister Tom Parlon denied this move was ever seriously considered at a three-hour meeting of its four leadership figures in Co Carlow.

“At no stage were we meeting to pull out of government,” he said.

But Senator Brian Hayes of Fine Gael said: “The country and western wing of the Progressive Democrats said to their Dublin cousins that they weren’t backing out because they need Fianna Fáil transfers in rural constituencies.”

The latest controversy began last weekend when a Sunday newspaper published leaked transcripts of Mr Ahern’s interviews with the Mahon Tribunal, which is probing planning corruption.

The Tribunal has postponed its sittings until after polling day, when Ahern is due to appear as a witness.

Finance Minister Brian Cowen said tonight: “What we have seen in recent weeks is a deliberate attempt to damage the Taoiseach through the selective and ongoing leak of information which has been given to the Tribunal.”

Foreign Affairs Minster Dermot Ahern also denied any division within Fianna Fáil: “We are going to go out and fight this election as an united party.”