The former Fianna Fáil minister, Mr Ray Burke, today refused to comment on the interim report of the Flood tribunal which found that he had received corrupt payments.
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Mr Ray Burke
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Mr Burke said that he was making no comment on foot of legal advice. However, he said that if the opportunity to comment presented itself in the future he "would look forward to it very, very much".
Meanwhile, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said today that he felt "saddened and betrayed" by the planning corruption that Mr Burke was involved in.
Speaking to RTÉ's Six One Newsthe Taoiseach, who was commenting on his appointment of Mr Burke as Minister for Foreign Affairs in 1997, said: "Unfortunately Ray let us down because what was said at that time were not things that we knew of and that's sad. I asked Ray a number of times were there any problems, any difficulties and he always assured me there wasn't".
He added that "these were now matters for the courts".