The Taoiseach yesterday issued a lengthy statement detailing the complex series of financial transactions surrounding his Drumcondra home during the 1990s, write Stephen Collinsand Liam Reid.
Tánaiste Michael McDowell said there was no longer any obstacle to prevent the Progressive Democrats doing business with Mr Ahern after the election. He confirmed he had been given a copy of the Taoiseach's statement in advance.
Mr Ahern later confirmed to reporters that in the past six months he had made a payment to the Revenue Commissioners relating to the payments and gifts he received in the early 1990s.
He denied this was at odds with his statement in the Dáil last October that he had no tax liabilities on the money he had received. He insisted that his advice was that this was still the case and that he would be refunded most of the money he had given to the Revenue Commissioners.
The Irish Timeshas learned that the Taoiseach was approached by the Revenue Commissioners after the payments controversy last October with a query as to whether he had a tax liability from that time.
Under taxation law, a person who believes they may have a tax liability can make a voluntary payment "on account" in order to avoid penalties or prosecution for tax evasion. Following negotiations with the Revenue Commissioners, some or all of that sum can be refunded if the Revenue finds or accepts that there is limited or no liability.
Mr Ahern said he decided to make a voluntary declaration and payment following discussions with his accountant after the controversy last autumn, but he insisted that he had little or no liability and would be refunded the payment.
He refused to say how much he had now paid to the Revenue. "I'm not going to get into that, I made a full declaration," he said. "I think I'll get most of that back."
Labour leader Pat Rabbitte accused Mr Ahern of misleading the Dáil when he gave an account of his personal finances last year.
Mr Rabbitte said Mr Ahern had initially told the Dáil that no tax issues were outstanding over either loans made to him by friends in Dublin or financial gifts he received from friends in Manchester. "As far as I am concerned, the Taoiseach's latest contortions on his financial affairs have to be dealt with by removing him from office."
In his 5,000-word statement, Mr Ahern maintained that leaks about his personal finances were an attempt to "discredit me and to damage Fianna Fáil" and he called them "an act of public deception".
"In political debate, robust exchanges are par for the course. I accept that as a fact of life, but what I don't accept is the trawling through my family, matrimonial and personal circumstances," Mr Ahern said. "My family have suffered from the tactic of selective disclosure and the publication of half-truths.
"I stand accused of no crime but find day in, day out, lurid news headlines and copious details of my private life distorted, misrepresented and sensationalised."
He had been in political life for 30 years and the only transactions being examined by the Mahon tribunal covered "a period of 24 months immediately following the resolution of my matrimonial difficulties and during a period of great flux in my life. The timing of these transactions needs to be seen in that context," he said.
"There is no pattern over many years or decades in high office of unexplained financial transactions. My lifestyle is as simple as it is honest. There was and is no vast wealth and no high lifestyle."
Mr Ahern said he believed the selective leaking of information was politically motivated.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny was adamant that his party had nothing to do with any leaks. "The Fine Gael party have no interest in doing down the personality of anybody and we are not associated with leaks from the Mahon tribunal . . . I haven't got involved in this row at all and I'm not going to do so now."