Cork businessman withdraws claim Ahern took bribe

The Cork businessman who has withdrawn allegations that the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, accepted a £50,000 bribe from him in 1989 last night insisted he was not biased against him.

The allegation led the Taoiseach to bring a libel and slander action against the retired businessman, Mr Denis "Starry" O'Brien. On Friday, Mr O'Brien instructed his lawyers to withdraw his defence.

He had alleged to the Flood tribunal that he secretly gave Mr Ahern £50,000 on behalf of a property developer, Mr Owen O'Callaghan, to help get planning permission for the Liffey Valley shopping centre.

Cork-based Mr O'Callaghan, managing director of O'Callagh an Properties, said he was "pleased, but not surprised" Mr O'Brien had "withdrawn his allegations against the Taoiseach and me personally. These allegations were outrageous to begin with and never had a shred of evidence to support them. They were deliberately constructed to inflict as much damage on my character as possible."

But he said he would be proceeding with his own defamation action against Mr O'Brien and the Sunday Business Post, which first reported the allegations.

Mr O'Brien said: "I am walking away from this. There is nothing in it for me. I was sucked into this. And I am now unsucking myself. I never mentioned Mr Ahern by name.

"I have nothing against Bertie Ahern, nothing in the wide earthly world against him. I have nothing to get in any of this. I woke up one morning last week and asked myself, `What am I at?', " he told The Irish Times.