Payments crisis - Taoiseach must break his silence

BY his continued silence on the issue, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern is exacerbating the situation whereby rumour and innuendo surround the question of money he received privately more than a decade ago when he was Minister for Finance.

He indicated that he did not intend to make a statement yesterday, but his persistent refusal to clarify his receipt of the money cannot go unchallenged, and neither will it.

While Mr Ahern maintains that he has given details to the Mahon Tribunal, from which the fact of the private donations was leaked, that forum will in due course deal with the matter.