Ahern crisis - More time is needed for answers

The implications of his satisfactory mature recollection over this weekend will be critical to Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and his survival, possibly, and maybe that of the coalition government which he currently leads.

He has said he will answer questions in the Dáil on Tuesday in relation to the controversy surrounding the payments amounting to €10,000 from businessmen in Manchester more than a decade ago.

Mr Ahern must be meticulous and comprehensive in the detail which he provides to clarify what Tánaiste Michael McDowell has, more than once, characterised as “very serious matters of concern”.

The matters are of such vital import that the amount of time which has been allocated by the Government is absolutely inadequate and can only be viewed as an attempt to deal with the matter as expeditiously as it possibly can.

It has set aside just five minutes each for five speakers, sandwiched between five minutes at the start and end for the Taoiseach. By steadfastly refusing to allow proper and adequate time it can only be considered as an orchestrated attempt by the Fianna Fáil element of the Government to deny a proper and full debate on the issue.

The Taoiseach must conclusively deal with those issues to the satisfaction not just of Mr McDowell and the Progressive Democrats, but of the Dáil and, importantly, the people of this country.

Consequently, to even attempt to do so in the grossly insufficient time assigned, is patently impossible. Mr McDowell must insist that whatever time is needed to debate these “very significant matters of concern” be conceded.

The opposition parties have demanded more time and the importance of the issues involved demand that they be accommodated.

An automatic exoneration has been conferred on the Taoiseach by his senior party and Cabinet colleagues to the effect that he has nothing to answer for his disingenuousness.

For more than a week the nature of his financial affairs have riven the country since the Irish Times leaked the matter of €50,000 Mr Ahern received from wealthy businessmen more than a decade ago, and his own revelation that around the same time he accepted another €10,000.

The paper’s editor, Geraldine Kennedy, and its public affairs correspondent Colm Keena, were both summonsed to appear before the Mahon Tribunal yesterday. They refused to answer questions about the source of the leak and admitted destroying relevant documents.

An interlocutory injunction was granted in an appeal taken by the tribunal against an earlier High Court ruling in favour of the Sunday Business Post. The injunction was granted by the Supreme Court on October 7, 2005, and applies until that appeal is heard.

Whatever legal implications that this may result in for both, they have brought into the public domain an issue which has grave implications for the Government.

It is ironic that the Mahon, Moriarty and McCracken tribunals would not have been set up without newspaper leaks, a fact which Ms Kennedy referred to.