The family of murdered Dublin courier Joseph Rafferty have hit out at what they perceive to be a refusal on the part of the Taoiseach to ensure that family members can get to Washington on St Patrick's Day to exert political pressure on Sinn Féin.
Relatives of the father-of-one, who want to bring their campaign for justice to the attention of US president George Bush, have accused Mr Ahern of sparing Sinn Fein's blushes. Mr Rafferty's family claims he was shot dead last April by a former member of the IRA and want Sinn Féin to co-operate with the garda investigation.
The 29-year-old's sister, Esther Uzell wants the Taoiseach to ensure that family members can get to Washington to exert political pressure on Sinn Féin.
However, Mr Ahern tonight reiterated that the sole responsibility for inviting guests to the St Patrick's Day event rested with the White House. He said: "It has been a more restricted event in recent years. Last year there was a number of groups invited whom president George Bush met.
"The invitations are exclusively a matter for the White House as it is the same if I was running an event in the Dáil or President McAleese was in Áras an Uachtaráin. "I haven't control over who the president invites. "You could imagine if I had, every organisation would be on to me looking to go."
Mrs Uzell said that when her family visited Washington last month, officials assured her that Mr Ahern could recommend to Mr Bush that they should be invited. She said today: "I have been ringing the Taoiseach's office every day since and they are telling me that they have no control over invites. "But there is no problem on the Washington side. I know that Mr Ahern is already inviting other groups with him.
"The only reason I can think of for this is that the Taoiseach wants to keep Sinn Féin happy and doesn't want to embarrass them by bring up Joseph's murder. "I had believed that the Taoiseach was backing our campaign but now I'm not so sure."
Mrs Uzell said it was now getting very late to arrange flights and accommodation for the trip. It is believed that Mr Rafferty had become embroiled in a dispute with a family from the south inner city with strong links to a former member of the IRA. The courier was shot dead last April in the Ongar housing estate in west Dublin.