Election scandal - Ahern faces toughest Teflon test

AN election campaign without a whiff of scandal is unimaginable and, true to form, controversy has broken over the head of Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, leader of the country’s biggest political party.

If anything, the unfolding row demonstrates that a presidential-style campaign, based on Bertie’s undoubted popularity, could have a greater bearing on the party’s electoral prospects than a lorry-load of policy documents.

Unsurprisingly, the controversy over allegations that he carried a case full of cash to Manchester 13 years ago, something he categorically denies, overshadowed yesterday’s launch of Fianna Fáil’s major economic policy programme.

Six weeks before the General Election, this is the latest in a series of allegations to dog the Taoiseach. The election campaign is in full swing and it will be dirty.

Yet, it is questionable if the affair of the cash in the briefcase will turn voters away from Fianna Fáil. Going on past experience, the chances are Mr Ahern’s Teflon image will not only survive intact but could even be enhanced.

Ironically, that was the unexpected outcome of BertieGate, last year’s controversy over his financial dealings. With his judgment in question, the Taoiseach first stonewalled questions. But he ultimately admitted receiving over €50,000 in loans, contributions and presents from businessmen and friends in Dublin and Manchester to help defray legal bills incurred during his marriage breakdown.

Amazingly, instead of blackening his image in the eyes of voters, it had the opposite effect, increasing his popularity in opinion polls. No less astonishing, it was the standing of Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny and Labour’s Pat Rabbitte that suffered adversely.

Both politicians were perceived by the public as hounding Mr Ahern unfairly about his private affairs and consequently their popularity rating waned in the polls.

Bizarrely, the latest allegations about Mr Ahern come from a former garda who was his driver while Minister for Finance in 1994. The retired garda claims to have taken Mr Ahern’s former partner, Celia Larkin, to a bank on O’Connell Street in Dublin where she emerged with a briefcase.

For security, the garda says he held the case overnight and alleges that when he looked inside he found it contained a large amount of cash. The driver also alleges seeing Mr Ahern taking the briefcase through the VIP lounge of Dublin Airport the next day and boarding a flight to Manchester.

The garda subsequently informed ex-Fine Gael Minister Jim Higgins of these allegations and the MEP reported them to the Mahon Tribunal in 2000.

Not surprisingly, Mr Ahern has dismissed these allegations as ‘baloney’ and accuses Fine Gael of trying to make electoral capital of the issue. As he puts it, he never took any money to Manchester in a case.

And, in his uniquely colourful way, he went on to add: “Whatever money I took to Manchester was to get me an overnight in Manchester or to pay for my ticket — if I didn’t get it for free — to see Manchester United play.”

Echoing the question that many people are asking, Health Minister Mary Harney and former leader of the PDs, Fianna Fail’s coalition partner, wondered why these allegations were not aired in the 2002 general election. A fair point.

For the record, Finance Minister Brian Cowen yesterday unveiled plans to overhaul taxes, make Ireland debt-free, and spend €72 billion of taxpayers’ money over the next five years. However, he ruled out any reform of stamp duty on second-hand house purchases.

This issue, floated originally by PD leader, Justice Minister Michael McDowell, and subsequently taken on board by the opposition, could yet redound negatively on Fianna Fáil’s electoral prospects.

Hence the importance of Bertie’s presidential image and, especially, the Teflon factor.