New information made it difficult to accept the Taoiseach's account of his meetings with Mr Tom Gilmartin, the Labour leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, said yesterday. He said information from Mr Gilmartin's diary, published in the Sunday Business Post, gave rise to questions which should be checked and answered. Without a new statement from Mr Ahern, it was difficult to accept the Taoiseach's own account of his meetings with Mr Gilmartin. He said Mr Gil martin's diary showed he met a group of ministers in Leinster House on February 1st, 1991.
This had changed the situation since Mr Ahern had made his statement to the Dail a fortnight ago.
"In that statement the Taoiseach said an investigation had been conducted to see if there had been a meeting between Mr Gilmartin and government ministers on March 10th, 1989," Mr Quinn said.
"A similar investigation of diaries for February 1st, 1989, must now take place to see if such a meeting took place on that specific date."
He said that in the light of this new information, Mr Liam Lawlor TD should further clarify the apparent differences between his denial in the Dail of any knowledge of a meeting between ministers and Mr Gilmartin and his "more qualified version of events" given to RTE's Prime Time programme last week.
"The Taoiseach must ensure that the diaries of any minister alleged to have been at such a meeting in Leinster House are checked to see if such a meeting is recorded in any of their diaries.
"In addition, the visitors' log book of Leinster House for February 1st, 1989, must be thoroughly examined to establish whether or not Mr Tom Gilmartin was signed in as a visitor to Leinster House, as this is standard practice for all guests who visit Leinster House."