Taoiseach Bertie Ahern today branded the Mahon tribunal’s treatment of his former constituency secretary Grainne Carruth "appalling and low-life stuff".
Just a day after he announced he is to step down from office, Mr Ahern said he was happy to go before the inquiry next month and that he felt Ms Carruth had been harangued in the witness box.
The Taoiseach faces mounting pressure to explain contradictions given in evidence about his personal finances.
He claimed he never dealt in sterling currency, but Ms Carruth told tribunal chairman Judge Alan Mahon before Easter that she lodged £15,000 into accounts held by him and his two daughters in 1994.
"That [her treatment] was just appalling, it was totally unnecessary. Talking about how not do to do something," the Taoiseach said.
"There was no need to harangue her. She just didn’t remember something. She was concealing nothing. She was a mother-of-three . . . hauling her back on Holy Thursday, it was just low-life stuff."
But Fine Gael Senator Eugene Regan described the Taoiseach’s outburst as unacceptable and inappropriate.
“Bertie Ahern appears to be suffering from a sense of delayed guilt over theway he left his former secretary to defend the indefensible regarding his sterling lodgements.
“That appears to be the only way we can interpret the outgoing Taoiseach’s belated comments in relation to her testimony.
“The latest outburst of Mr Ahern is consistent with the constant efforts of this Government to criticise, discredit and undermine the work of the Tribunal.
“This is despite the fact that it is only carrying out the mandate of the Oireachtas and conducting its proceedings in a manner designed to get at the truth about payments to the Taoiseach’s own accounts,” he said.
Mr Ahern also said he was referring to the tribunal when he said yesterday that not all chambers were as fair to him as the Dáil.
The Taoiseach, who today addressed a conference marking the 10th anniversary of the Belfast Agreement, is due back before the inquiry again on May 20th.
Mr Ahern said he had no plans for his retirement but that he hoped he would be considered for the European Presidency. "Certainly I’d like to be considered for a position like that, but I’d have to think about it."
PA