State papers: Ahern opposed allowing extra refugees into Ireland on financial grounds

Bertie Ahern meeting David Andrews. Permission was sought to double the number of refugees being allowed into Ireland.

Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern opposed allowing additional refugees fleeing the war-torn former Yugoslavia into Ireland while he was Minister for Finance in the Albert Reynolds-led administration in the early 1990s.

Newly-released State papers show the Cabinet was greatly concerned about the war in Serbia, Croatia, and Bosnia-Herzigovina and feared it could spread.