Bertie and the Sindo: An affront to democracy

ON THE TV3 documentary Print And Be Damned, Anne Harris, the Sunday Independent editor, gave her account of the relationship the paper forged with Bertie Ahern prior to the 2007 election.

According to Harris, Ahern met the newspaper’s then editor, the late Aengus Fanning, at a function in the Shelbourne Hotel in April of that year. At the time, the Mahon Tribunal was investigating Ahern’s finances. A file on Ahern’s finances, originating in the tribunal, but dispersed to various parties, had come into the possession of the newspaper. It was reputedly explosive stuff, although lawyers cautioned against publication.

Harris told TV3 that at the Shelbourne, Fanning put it to Ahern that the paper had a “massive file” on him. Fanning then asked Ahern for some stories, particularly the date of the forthcoming general election.