Taoiseach defends move to readmit Flynn to FF

The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, has defended his decision to support the re-admittance of Beverly Flynn to the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party.

Last night, the party's national executive agreed to readmit the Mayo TD at the request of Mr Ahern.

Ms Flynn was expelled in 2004 after a failed libel action against RTÉ, which revealed that she had helped people to evade tax while working for National Irish Bank.

Speaking in Dublin this morning, Mr Ahern said he felt the time was right for her to return as she had now dealt with all the outstanding costs arising from the libel action.