Ahern says Cooper-Flynn is entitled to due process

The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said Ms Beverley Cooper-Flynn was entitled to due process in the courts before any decision was made on her political career. He said Ms Cooper-Flynn, the Fianna Fail TD for Mayo, was neither above nor beneath the law. "Like the great majority of members of this House, I believe that she is entitled to due process and full accountability. As far as I am concerned, I wish her well in whatever decision she has to make."

He said he understood from Ms Cooper-Flynn that the case against RTE would be referred to in court on Tuesday and she then had a period of time to appeal or not the High Court decision.

"She has informed me that her legal team and herself will make a fairly prompt decision based on legal advice after that. So it would be inappropriate for me to comment in detail on the outcome of the proceedings at this stage given that the matter could yet be the subject of an appeal to the Supreme Court."

Mr Ahern, replying to Opposition leaders, said he had spoken to Ms Cooper-Flynn about the issue and had received private correspondence from her.

"She has also informed me that she has tendered her resignation as a member of the Public Accounts Committee. I want to thank her for the service she has rendered to the House as a member of this committee.

"I also want to thank her for making a wise choice in putting the interests of the committee ahead of her own personal interests and the promptness of action which served this House and the committee from becoming involved in further controversy."

The Labour leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, said a High Court jury had found last Friday that Ms Cooper-Flynn, in her capacity as an official of a bank, had clearly incited or encouraged people to break the law.

"In the light of the fact that a jury has found, as a matter of fact, that the law was broken by incitement, can I ask the Taoiseach what he thinks should be the position of Deputy Cooper-Flynn, and does he believe her continued membership of Dail Eireann, this place of lawmaking, is now tenable?"

Mr Ahern said Ms Cooper-Flynn was entitled to consider the legal implications of the case.

He said tax evasion was wrong and to encourage others to evade tax was wrong. "Legislators and institutions, public or private, are all bound as good citizens to observe and uphold the rule of law.

"The actions of some banks and their employees in facilitating tax evasion, as established by the DIRT inquiry, was reprehensible, as I said here before. The day when individuals and corporate bodies, however high their public standing, could afford to adopt a cavalier attitude to tax laws in this country is well and truly over."

The matter was first raised on the Order of Business by Mr Quinn, who said that since 1983 it had been a criminal offence for any person to knowingly aid, abet, assist, incite or induce another person to make or deliver, knowingly or wilfully, incorrect tax returns.

"In the light of this part of our law, and the judgment made last Friday, does he believe that the continued membership of Dail Eireann by one of his deputies is now tenable?"

The Fine Gael leader, Mr Michael Noonan, asked Mr Ahern if he had had a conversation with Ms Cooper-Flynn.