The Irish Times has run a series of articles making allegations about me. Again today The Irish Times has alleged in correspondence to me that I was in breach of my ethical obligations. The central charge made by the newspaper was that I had failed to make a declaration under the ethics in public office legislation when I was a Senator in relation to an interest my wife had in a hair salon in Moscow.

I had been contacted immediately prior to the story being published, though it had been under research for weeks. During a short telephone conversation, I told the reporter on a number of occasions that I had no comment to make on the questions he put to me. When he asked if I was involved with Irlasto, I confirmed that I did not have an involvement with Irlasto. I did not at any time deny my involvement with the hairdressing salon in Moscow, even though I am quoted in The Irish Times as having done so. I made no comment to The Irish Times for reasons I detail below.

Immediately upon this erroneous story being published my solicitors contacted The Irish Times and let them know that their claim about me being in breach of ethics legislation was incorrect. My solicitors advised them that the Standards in Public Offices Commission had also confirmed this.

To date, even though The Irish Times knows this to be false, it has not corrected this. I have also told The Irish Times it misquoted me but nobody has contacted me to ask what I consider to be the misquote. In fact, The Irish Times has repeated the misquote and the newspaper continues to publish stories to attempt to justify its incorrect allegation.

The latest charges against me are that I travelled to Moscow in the 1990s and that I was the recipient of a letter from workmen who lost tools in transit and that my name was quoted at a meeting of Irlasto.

Yes, I did visit Moscow in the 1990s both officially as a member of the Oireachtas and as an ordinary citizen to support the investors, including my wife, who were attempting to set up a hair salon there. I did unpaid work on this project on behalf of the investors. I never made any secret of this - my involvement was well known by many people at the time. I was quite entitled to do such work while being a member of Seanad Éireann.

I made no secret of my visits there in the mid-90s and met The Irish Times correspondent there when I made official visits as a member of the Oireachtas and as an ordinary citizen.

The reason I did not wish to comment on the question put to me was that I was aware that this issue is part of a regional political campaign by a number of individuals to do damage to my integrity, character and good name. The accusations made against me by these individuals are totally inaccurate and indeed outrageous and have been relayed to reporters as facts which are then put to me to deny.

I again reiterate that I was not in breach of my requirements under the Ethics Legislation in 1995/96 and the Standards in Public Office Commission have confirmed this.