Taoiseach attacked in Dáil over payments

Opposition party leaders have again confronted the Taoiseach in the Dáil over the payments controversy.

Mr Ahern in the Dail

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said it was "incredible" that Mr Ahern managed to save €60,000 while not having a bank account, while Labour's Pat Rabbitte said the Taoiseach has yet to reveal the identities of the businessmen who gave him money in Manchester.

Trevor Sergent, the Green Party leader, accused Mr Ahern of "misleading" the Dáil over the payments.

Mr Ahern told the Dáil yesterday that his actions were "an error and a misjudgment", but he consistently refused to bow to Opposition demands to accept that his actions were wrong. He told the House during a 15-minute statement: "It was not illegal or impermissible to have done what I did but I now regret the choices I made in those difficult and dark times."

"The bewilderment caused to the public about recent revelations has been deeply upsetting for me and others near and dear to me. To them, the Irish people and to this House, I offer my apologies," he said.

Speaking during Leaders' Questions this morning, Mr Kenny claimed the Taoiseach had failed to answer a number of "fundamental" questions in his statement. He said the public found it "incredible" Mr Ahern could have accumulated savings of the equivalent of around €60,000 without having a bank account.

Mr Kenny also said the Taoiseach failed to address the "contradiction" between not accepting money in Dublin and accepting money in Manchester. "You said that if you saw the collection going around the table, you would not have accepted it. Yet you did accept it."

In addition, the Mayo TD asked Mr Ahern to say if he had received money at any other functions he had attended in other jurisdictions over the years.

The Taoiseach insisted he had fully answered all questions during his speech yesterday, as well as in the Dail last week and during a number of media interviews. "I'm not going to go on each day rehashing the same questions," he said. "Did I get a gift or a donation anywhere else? The answer is no."

Mr Rabbitte asked the Taoiseach if he planned to divulge the identity of all those who had given him money in Manchester, as demanded by Tánaiste Michael McDowell. He asked Mr Ahern if he would "reconstitute" the list of donors.

Mr Ahern replied that he had made a number of trips to Manchester over the years and it would be "impossible" to track down everybody he had met there. "I can't do it," he said. "I've explained that to the House, I've explained that to the public, and I've explained it everywhere else."

However, Mr Ahern insisted nobody who gave him money in Manchester was ever appointed by him to any State board.

He also said he was not "beholden" to anybody who gave him money in Dublin in the early 1990s at the time of his marriage break-up. This money has been paid back in full, and with interest.

Mr Sargent accused the Taoiseach of misleading the Dáil when he was asked in February 1999 if he had ever received any payments that he considered, with the benefit of hindsight, to have been "unorthodox, unusual or irregular".

Mr Ahern said his answer was the same as the one he had given to Mr Sergent when he asked the exact same question yesterday.

"Is the Taoiseach seriously asking us to believe that the £8,000 payment was not unorthodox?" Mr Sargent asked. "Is he suggesting there were other payments if it wasn't unusual?"

Mr Sargent was then forced by Ceann Comhairle Rory O'Hanlon to withdraw a claim that Mr Ahern had "lied", but said: "You did mislead the Dáil and I ask you to face up to it, recognise the error of your ways and be honest".

Mr Ahern responded that he had made his position clear yesterday. He had made "an error", it was a "misjudgment" but was not in the breach of the law and he had apologised.

Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Micheál Martin this morning insisted his party's leader's apology was sufficient and he had no further apologies to make. "The fundamental point he was making was that there was an error of judgement involved, although not in breach of any law or in breach of any ethical guidelines," Mr Martin said.

"When this was first revealed, the use of language from the opposition and the context in which the debate was raising was very much about an abuse of office, corrupt intent, potential compromising of himself by the Taoiseach," Mr Martin told RTÉ's Morning Ireland.

"The Taoiseach was very particular from day one that the loans were from friends of his, and indeed, the Manchester payment did not involve corrupt intent, did not involve any personal obligation by him to any people and did not, in any shape or form, impact on the conduct of his duty as a minister, or indeed, as taoiseach.

"He wasn't apologising for something that was in breach of the law," the Minister added. "He has said it was an error of judgement from his perspective looking back in hindsight. Certainly, he is also apologising for the bewilderment caused ... and for all of the debate that has ensued and the difficulties it has created for family and friends."