The evidence given by the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, to the Flood tribunal poses a new credibility problem for the Taoiseach at the end of his worst week in office.
In a short appearance yesterday, Ms Harney revealed that Mr Ahern had assured her, prior to the appointment of the Cabinet on June 25th, 1997, that Mr Ray Burke had received £30,000 from James Gogarty and Joseph Murphy Structural Engineering. This is the first time that this fact has come into the public domain.
It raises an interesting new question for Mr Ahern. How did he satisfy himself that his about-to-be appointed minister for foreign affairs, Mr Burke, had received £30,000 from JMSE, kept £20,000 of it, given £10,000 to Fianna Fail, but that no planning favours were sought or given?
On the public record to date is the statement from the Fianna Fail leader made in the middle of the election campaign in May 1997 that he had gone through the allegations with Mr Burke on four occasions in the previous 17 months. "Insofar as I possibly can be, I am satisfied", he responded to a question from The Irish Times.
Ms Harney told the tribunal yesterday that shortly after the election, Mr Gay Grehan, a director of JMSE and husband of the PD candidate for Louth, Dr Mary Grehan, informed her that he understood that JMSE had made a £30,000 payment to Mr Burke.
This had been matched by a second £30,000 payment from the developer, Mr Michael Bailey. The money was paid for planning permission or rezoning on lands.
Mr Grehan's knowledge was not first hand, he said. He had not attended any meetings or seen any documents.
When Mr Ahern told Ms Harney on June 11th in Buswell's Hotel that he intended to appoint Mr Burke to the Cabinet, she expressed her concern that Mr Burke may have sought or received money for planning favours. She subsequently informed him of the Grehan allegations and asked him to investigate them. She regarded it as a Fianna Fail matter.
Before the tribunal hearings this week, it was known that Mr Bertie Ahern sent his then Chief Whip, Mr Dermot Ahern, to London on June 24th, 1997 - two days before the formation of the Government - to meet Mr Joseph Murphy jnr. This meeting had been arranged with Mr Murphy at the request of Mr Bertie Ahern through Mr Cyprian Brady, a party worker in Drumcondra.
Mr Murphy answered "no" to three questions put to him by Mr Dermot Ahern. Mr Dermot Ahern returned with a blank denial that either Mr Murphy, junior or senior, or Mr Gogarty or JMSE had given any money to Mr Burke for any reason. This position was confirmed to Mr Dermot Ahern by Mr Murphy junior a week later.
It emerged from the tribunal only this week that while Mr Dermot Ahern was in London conducting his investigation, Mr Bertie Ahern telephoned Mr Bailey to discuss the same matter. Government sources have confirmed that such a call took place.
Mr Bertie Ahern was anxious that one side would not have the opportunity to consult with the other during the investigation. Mr Bertie Ahern did not inform Mr Dermot Ahern of this parallel strategy at the time. He learned of it only recently.
Mr Dermot Ahern told the tribunal on Wednesday that some time after his return from London, Mr Burke, then minister for foreign affairs, telephoned him to find out what had happened. Mr Ahern told Mr Burke that the Murphys stated that they had given no money to him.
"Who gave me the money then? Well, it must have been Bailey", Mr Burke said.
Mr Burke was forced to make a statement to the Dail on September 10th, 1997, to outline the circumstances of the £30,000 payment. He said it came from JMSE, in cash in two envelopes. He retained £20,000 for constituency expenses and passed £10,000 on to Fianna Fail headquarters.
The establishment of the Flood Tribunal was announced in late September, 1997. Mr Burke resigned in October.
Some eight months later, on June 3rd, 1998, when the £30,000 Rennicks payment was being debated in the Dail, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said that the "independent inquiry" made by Mr Dermot Ahern in London "failed to substantiate the claims or indeed to elicit confirmation of any donation by the company itself".
He also said the question was put by Mr Ahern to Mr Murphy, "who I thought was in the best position to know the answer".
On more than one occasion prior to last June, he added, when he questioned Mr Burke, " I was assured by him that there was nothing troubling him or that he could not stand over".
In all of these circumstances, how can Mr Bertie Ahern justify his conclusion that Mr Burke received £30,000 from JMSE as a normal political donation? Or that no favours were sought or given?
JMSE denied giving any money to Mr Burke. Mr Bertie Ahern spoke to Mr Bailey and Mr Burke. He did not speak to Mr James Gogarty, the man making most of the allegations against Mr Burke, and who was present in Mr Burke's home when money was paid over in June 1989.
The basis of the Taoiseach's "independent inquiry" was most likely Mr Burke himself.