Taoiseach defends McAleese on claims

The Taoiseach has defended Fianna Fail's presidential candidate, Prof Mary McAleese, following the leak of memos from the Department of Foreign Affairs to a number of newspapers. Mr Ahern indicated there would be a second Garda investigation into the leaking of "very sensitive" documents about the peace process to the Sunday Independent. The newspaper did not publish the documents.

He also described the leaks as a "criminal activity" and "extraordinarily irresponsible". It was "part of a dirty-tricks campaign to undermine Mary McAleese, but I am very proud of her".

Mr Ahern was speaking to reporters after addressing Fianna Fail's annual Wolfe Tone commemoration at Bodenstown cemetery in Co Kildare. Ms McAleese, who also attended the ceremony, refused to comment. When a question was put to her she just said "No".

The Taoiseach said he was well used to "dirty-tricks campaigns" and had experienced them in the 1990 presidential campaign when he was director of elections for the late Brian Lenihan.

"I hate leaks, I hate phone taps, I hate any of this stuff. I hate dirty tricks," he said. "I wish to God people would fight by political means and have the honesty to fight by political means. It is a noble enough profession and it seems to be terrible that when it comes to presidential elections it seems to be on the basis of dirty tricks that you have to fight them, not on the basis of honest-to-God politics."

The leaks included a Department of Foreign Affairs memo which reported that the SDLP councillor, Ms Brid Rodgers, commented that Ms McAleese was "pushing the Sinn Fein agenda".

Mr Ahern said the work Mr John Hume had done with Mr Gerry Adams was "not loved by everybody in the SDLP over the last few years, but he was proved to be right". He could understand people having reservations, but "you can take it that Brid Rodgers has no fundamental disagreement, or anybody else in the SDLP, with Mary McAleese".

The Taoiseach told reporters that the memos which appeared in the Sunday Tribune and the Sunday Business Post were "from the same batch" mentioned in reports last week but which were reproduced in full yesterday.

"From these documents it is clear that she was doing no more than assisting Father Alex Reid, who is the unsung hero of the peace process, and the chairman of the Irish News [Mr Jim Fitzpatrick]. She was in the highest of company in the interests of trying to bring peace to this country.

There was "some kind of attempt by some to say that she is some kind of fellow traveller of Sinn Fein". He said nobody had come up with evidence that Ms McAleese had ever spoken on behalf of Sinn Fein. "Did she ever attend a public rally? Was she ever a joint signatory of any statement? Mary McAleese has done nothing in her political life other than being a member of Fianna Fail and a member of the SDLP.

"The leaks that the Sunday In- dependent received are from an entirely different batch, one from 1994 and one from 1997. So I think there are probably two separate investigations going on by gardai."

He added that the Sunday Independent memos had "nothing whatever to do with Mary McAleese and nothing whatever to do with me. They were very sensitive documents about the peace process, and the paper showed respect for the national interest in not publishing."

Flanked by eight of his Cabinet colleagues and Ms McAleese at the commemoration, the Taoiseach told the gathering of about 300 people that the party's candidate was "someone extraordinarily well-qualified".

As president Ms McAleese "will approach the sensitivities of relations in the North and between North and South with care and consideration". No one, he added "has the right to question her Irishness, for which she and her family once had to suffer, or her total commitment to peace on this island".