OPPOSITION PARTIES have welcomed the intervention of the junior Coalition parties in the controversy over the Taoiseach's finances, with both Fine Gael and Labour saying there was enormous public disquiet over the ongoing disclosures.
Fine Gael environment spokesman Phil Hogan described the interventions of Mary Harney and John Gormley yesterday as a significant new development, but said the extraordinary events at the Mahon tribunal had forced them to react.
He said the two Ministers had finally emerged from their "self-imposed tribunal hibernation" to express their disquiet over the most recent £15,500 sterling lodgements to the Taoiseach's accounts, while happily ignoring the other €500,000 worth of lodgements revealed to date.
"The investigation of €500,000 worth of lodgements to the Taoiseach's accounts didn't merit comment from Mary Harney and John Gormley.
"The non-payment of taxes by the then minister for finance was not a matter worthy of remark either. Even using party money to buy your partner a house failed to elicit a cautionary comment from either individual," he said.
"These issues have been a matter of significant public disquiet and concern since the Taoiseach first started spinning his web to the tribunal last September," said Mr Hogan.
"The public concern with these issues did not begin and end with the day the Taoiseach shamefully hid behind his constituency secretary and forced Gráinne Carruth into an impossible position.
"That occasion highlighted the true nature of Bertie Ahern. He is willing to use and abuse anyone or any individual to sustain his position," Mr Hogan said.
He added that what the country needed now from the Taoiseach was not another self-serving statement but the full truth about all of the lodgements.
Labour leader Eamon Gilmore said that the comments by the two Ministers represented "the first cracks in the wall of silence" that the Government had attempted to impose on the glaring contradictions and inconsistencies that had emerged at the Mahon tribunal regarding the Taoiseach's financial affairs.
"Ms Harney was understating the seriousness of the situation when she referred to 'public disquiet' about Mr Ahern's financial affairs. The reality is that, particularly in the aftermath of last week's disclosures, the country is now being swept by a tide of public scepticism and disbelief that has not only robbed the Taoiseach of all political credibility and authority, but is also seriously undermining the capacity of the Government to deal with our mounting social and economic problems," Mr Gilmore said.