The Taoiseach's spokesman has rejected suggestions that Mr Ahern leaked confidential Government information to the political lobbyist, Mr Frank Dunlop.
The denial came last night after Opposition parties called on the Taoiseach to say if he had a role in the leaking and subsequent altering of details of the Government's plans to limit the size of supermarkets.
The Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, told the Cabinet on June 3rd, 1998, that he planned to limit the size of supermarkets to 3,500 square metres gross. A Cabinet member leaked this information almost immediately, according to documents published in the Irish Examiner yesterday.
The leak was made to a client of the political lobbyist, Mr Frank Dunlop, who had both Tesco and the Cork property developer, Mr Owen O'Callaghan, as clients at the time.
The day after the decision, Mr Dunlop sent faxes to the Taoiseach and the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, protesting at the plan and asking that the cap be put on net store size rather than gross size.
His fax to Mr Dempsey said one of his Cabinet colleagues had told a client - not Tesco, he said - of the intention. His fax to the Taoiseach said: "Many thanks for your great help." However, it did not specify what help was referred to.
The Taoiseach's spokesman rejected the suggestion that this implied the Taoiseach had given Mr Dunlop the information. Sources suggested the phrase "Many thanks for your great help" may have simply been a polite way of signing off, rather than an expression of gratitude for specific assistance. Mr Dunlop could not be contacted for comment last night.
On June 8th, according to documents released to the Irish Examiner under the Freedom of Information Act, a letter was sent from the Taoiseach's office to Mr Dunlop, although the content of this is unknown. The following day the Department of the Environment announced that supermarket size was to be capped, but at 3,000 square metres net rather than 3,500 gross.
Gross size includes space for storage, while net space covers the area used by the public only. Property experts have said the 3,000 net limit is more advantageous to those seeking to build large stores than the 3,500 gross limit. The limit was imposed amid fears that the growth of major superstores on the edge of towns would damage the viability of small retail outlets in the towns.
Fine Gael and Labour yesterday called on Mr Ahern to make a statement on his contacts with Mr Dunlop at the time. Referring to Mr Dunlop's thanks to the Taoiseach for his "great help", a Fine Gael statement asked: "Can it be inferred that the Taoiseach may have leaked the vital information in the first instance?"
The Labour leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, said Mr Ahern "must explain his role in this affair and the reason why Mr Dunlop was so effusive in his thanks, on the day a client of his received a leak of commercially sensitive information from a Cabinet member". The Green Party TD, Mr John Gormley, said the change in the decision gave a benefit to "a major Fianna Fail donor . . . This is further evidence, if evidence were needed, that a golden circle continues to exist under the watch of Bertie Ahern".