Ahern moves to restore credibility

The Taoiseach has made a number of concessions to the Dail in an attempt to restore credibility to his handling of the controversies surrounding political donations to Mr Ray Burke.

He cited legal advice, confusion over the amounts and the lack of independent verification as the reasons why the Fianna Fail party did not inform the Flood tribunal that Mr Burke had received £30,000 from Rennicks Manufacturing Ltd, a subsidiary of Fitzwilton.

He asserted that it was the Rennicks accountant, Mr David Byrne, not Mr Robin Rennicks, who corrected the original information given to Fianna Fail about the £30,000 cheque, made out to cash, which was given to Mr Burke.

At the end of the Dail debate the Government's proposal to have the Flood tribunal investigate the latest revelations relating to Mr Burke was passed by 68 votes to 64.

In an attempt to head off further controversy, Mr Ahern accepted that "perhaps I should have informed the Dail and indeed consulted our partners in Government" about the party's disclosures to the tribunal.

The Taoiseach was subjected to a barrage of accusations from Opposition leaders throughout the three-hour debate, culminating in Mr John Bruton's claim that his credibility was fatally flawed.

The Tanaiste, Ms Harney, offered no threat to the stability of the Coalition in her contribution. "If what is now known in relation to payments to Mr Burke was known to me last June", she said, "I would not have been willing to participate in Government with him."

In a new twist to the controversy, Government sources said last night that the Taoiseach had a conversation with Mr Dick Spring on Tuesday in which Mr Spring admitted that he had never mentioned the Rennicks name or the contents of the anonymous note sent to him last September. He merely said he had an anonymous letter making accusations against Mr Burke, the spokesman added.

Labour sources responded that Mr Spring confirmed to Mr Ahern that he did raise the information in the anonymous note in his possession.