Taoiseach criticised over GIS official's radio call

The Taoiseach must take "full responsibility" for the decision of a member of the Government Information Service (GIS) to defend Mr Ahern's reputation on a radio show this week under a false name, Fine Gael has claimed.

The party's spokesman on communications, Mr Simon Coveney, said yesterday that the Taoiseach was dragging politics "further into the gutter". Mr Coveney asked: "What culture is Bertie Ahern cultivating within the Civil Service that a public servant would take such desperate action on the Taoiseach's behalf?"

Mr Ben Dunne, a civil servant of some years, who previously worked in the Leinster House information technology section, has been suspended from the GIS after appearing on the RTÉ 2FM Gerry Ryan Show on Thursday under the pseudonym "Brian".

The GIS yesterday declined to comment on the affair other than confirming disciplinary action had been initiated, and an investigation was under way.

In the 90-second broadcast, Mr Dunne strongly defended Mr Ahern's decision to appoint Mr Ray Burke as minister for foreign affairs in 1997.

In a statement, RTÉ said yesterday: "We are satisfied that we acted in good faith in relation to this matter.

"We understand that someone in the public service has been suspended from duty and we do not wish to make any comment because in our view it's important that the Government Information Service should be able to proceed with its own inquiry into what happened here."

Mr Coveney said it was "a telling indictment" of the Taoiseach's lack of public support that he needed a servant of the State to pose as an ordinary member of the public to defend him on the airwaves.