After much huffing and puffing about correct procedure, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, went before his peers in the Dáil yesterday and insisted he had cooperated fully with the Mahon tribunal and had provided it with all the documentation it had sought.
His defence was circumspect and precise. And, as might be expected, his explanations failed to satisfy the opposition parties. They felt his presentation was extremely selective and did not reflect the totality of the situation. Once again, however, the Taoiseach slipped away from charges that his responses to various allegations of political corruption made by Mr Tom Gilmartin had been inadequate.
Later, Ms Beverley Cooper Flynn made a personal statement to the Dáil in which she denied setting up a bogus, non-resident account on behalf of her father, former Minister and EU Commissioner, Mr Padraig Flynn.
She had not assisted in tax evasion, she said. The investments made had been legal. And she had neither owned nor had a beneficial interest in the funds involved, even though her name had been on the account. The Fianna Fáil TD revealed that, earlier in the day, she had provided the Mahon tribunal with further details of these transactions and felt she had now fulfilled her obligations to it.
It was all very technical and legalistic. Such an approach might have been expected, given her pending appeal against a High Court finding that she had encouraged tax evasion while employed at National Irish Bank. Her version of events drew a veil over the opening of a bogus, non-resident account by her father, who was then a Cabinet minister. And she had no knowledge that Mr Gilmartin had been the source of those funds.
In the course of the Dáil exchanges, Mr Ahern boasted he had done more than anyone else in tackling tax evasion. Unfortunately, the record does not support such a claim.
There has been a reluctance within Fianna Fáil to expel those party members who evaded or facilitated the evasion of tax. Where guilt was admitted - in the cases of Mr Denis Foley and Mr Michael Collins - they were encouraged to resign from the parliamentary party. But they remained members of Fianna Fáil; occupied party rooms in the Dáil and voted with the government.
In the case of Ms Cooper Flynn, the whip was removed in 2001 "pending the final outcome of any appeal" against a finding that she had encouraged tax evasion. In spite of that arrangement, she was ratified as a party candidate in the general election of 2002 and was later readmitted to the parliamentary party.
The Taoiseach's reluctance to confront unpalatable situations was encapsulated in his admission that he knew nothing about Mr Flynn's finances and did not particularly want to know. The leader of a Government, or a political party, cannot allow himself the luxury of such ignorance, especially when the public interest demands investigation and remedial action.