Bertie sets up a smokescreen

WHILE the veracity of the Taoiseach’s evidence to the Mahon Tribunal is still a matter for debate, it is crystal clear for everyone to see that he is trying, with some considerable success, to pull the wool over our eyes.

Last weekend, he repeatedly told Marian Finucane on RTÉ Radio that his bizarre finances were due to his marital separation.

The Taoiseach devoted lengthy periods of the interview to focus on this point, telling Ms Finucane: “If I wasn’t getting separated, nothing would have happened and there would not be anything strange ... if I wasn’t going through a High Court separation I would have been using the accounts with Miriam, friends wouldn’t have been giving me money and I wouldn’t have been renting a house.”