Questions for Ahern that should not be left to tribunals

In Cork on Sunday night Desmond O'Malley laid down a marker for the survival of the Government. He said: "My principal concern is not just with the revelations themselves but with how they are dealt with now." An examination of how Bertie Ahern has dealt with the revelations concerning the donation of £50,000 to Padraig Flynn should therefore be a key determinant in whether the Progressive Democrats will remain in office with Fianna Fail. And in examining how Bertie Ahern handled these revelations let us rely almost entirely on his own account of what happened in his statement to the Dail and responses to questions on January 27th.

On Monday, September 21st last year, Sean Sherwin, the national organiser of Fianna Fail, told the party general secretary, Martin Mackin, that he "had a recollection" of Padraig Flynn having received £50,000 from Tom Gilmartin in 1989 and that this money, allegedly, had been intended for Fianna Fail. In fact, according to Bertie Ahern, Sean Sherwin had "certain detailed comments about what Mr Gilmartin said when he came to the [Fianna Fail head] office". (Column 56 of Dail Debates of January 27th). Following the conversation between Sean Sherwin and Martin Mackin, Bertie Ahern said he was informed of what Sean Sherwin had said and he had checked whether Fianna Fail had received this money and had discovered it did not receive it. He said: "I was shocked that this amount of money could be floating around because it never floated anywhere that I had been over the years." At no stage, apparently, did Bertie Ahern discuss the matter with Sean Sherwin, even after Mr Sherwin had made a statement detailing all he had remembered about the Gilmartin-Flynn affair.

According to Bertie Ahern, sometime in late September his programme manager "referred briefly" to Mary Harney's programme manager and said: "Sean Sherwin would probably be appearing at the tribunal in connection with matters that had appeared in the press at the time and that the party was trawling through the accounts and records of the period with a view to full co-operation with the tribunal."

Bertie Ahern became treasurer of Fianna Fail on January 28th, 1993, but he had started work "in that area" in 1992. He told the Dail that as treasurer he "had many discussions with people in Fianna Fail, mainly with a person who is now a Member of this House, Deputy Sean Fleming, who was previously accountant for Fianna Fail, about the files and operation of fund-raising for the party . . . [but he] had no discussion with Sean Fleming or anybody else about anything to do with Padraig Flynn". Now, a number of questions arise from this version of what happened, and the first directly concerns Mary Harney.

On or immediately after September 21st Bertie Ahern was informed that Sean Sherwin recalled that Tom Gilmartin had told him in 1989 that £50,000 had been given to Padraig Flynn, that this had been intended for Fianna Fail but that it had not been transferred to Fianna Fail. According to himself, Bertie Ahern was "shocked" by this revelation. Yet he failed to tell Mary Harney of his shock or of the revelation itself. In fact, the only communication with her on the issue was a "brief" reference by his programme manager to her programme manager "that Sean Sherwin would probably be appearing at the tribunal in connection with matters that had appeared in the press at the time". By September 21st, as well as knowing about Gilmartin's alleged £50,000 donation, Bertie Ahern was also aware that Ray Burke had got £30,000 from the Fitzwilton Group in June 1989 for the party and had passed on only £20,000. He was further aware that Ray Burke had received at least £30,000 from JMSE in June 1989, that he had told the Dail in September 1997 that he had passed on £10,000 of this to the party but that this had not been done. Thus a total of £90,000 allegedly intended for the party had allegedly been misappropriated.

By this time Bertie Ahern was also aware that his predecessor but one as leader of Fianna Fail, Charles Haughey, had enjoyed a lavish lifestyle over many years through questionable financing. It would not have been beyond the bounds of possibility that Mr Haughey would have omitted to pass on to Fianna Fail funds that he had been given for the party. Yet it appears from what Bertie Ahern himself has said that he instituted no inquiries within the party into what had gone on in 1989. He did not even discuss the matter with Sean Sherwin nor, apparently, with the former finance director of the party, Sean Fleming, now one of his backbenchers.

We know that Sean Sherwin was aware in 1989 of the £50,000 donation given to Padraig Flynn. We know that Sean Fleming knew that Ray Burke had received £30,000 from Fitzwilton in 1989 for Fianna Fail and had kept £20,000. Bertie Ahern became treasurer of Fianna Fail in January 1993 and had been acting in that capacity since the previous year, the year in which Charles Haughey had been removed from the leadership of Fianna Fail and replaced by Albert Reynolds.

By 1992 the party's finances were in chaos. Is it likely that in the review of party finances that took place in 1992 neither Sean Fleming nor Sean Sherwin mentioned to the new treasurer, Bertie Ahern, what had gone on in 1989, given that what had happened then probably contributed in no small measure to the financial chaos that prevailed three years later? And if they did not mention it to him then, did he recently inquire why they did not tell him? When the controversy about Ray Burke's June 1989 JMSE funding broke in early 1997, prior to Fianna Fail being returned to government, how was it that nobody told Bertie Ahern of the £30,000 Fitzwilton payment to Ray Burke in June 1989? More pertinently, when Ray Burke deceived the Dail in September 1997 about passing over to Fianna Fail £10,000 of the JMSE payment, how was it that Sean Fleming did not tell Bertie Ahern about that deception? If Sean Fleming did not tell Bertie Ahern about that at the time, has Bertie Ahern since asked him why he did not do that? Or maybe Sean Sherwin and Sean Fleming did indeed tell all to Bertie Ahern or at least told somebody they assumed would tell Bertie Ahern? Whichever it is, what happened?

These questions are central to the test that Des O'Malley has laid down for the continuation of the Government: how the revelations of wrongdoing are being dealt with now. These questions cannot await the outcome of tribunals; they relate to the continuance in office of the Government.