Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has said he did not know that a hotel developer he visited on Tuesday is at the centre of a series of investigations and court cases relating to some of the most serious illegal dumping ever uncovered in Ireland.
Mr Ahern took time out from a personal holiday in Kerry on Tuesday to visit the development in Sneem and was photographed with its owner, businessman Louis Moriarty, who is a constituent of Mr Ahern's and lives on Griffith Avenue in Drumcondra, close to Mr Ahern's own home.
Photographs of the two appeared in many national newspapers yesterday in front of the €20 million development, which will include a 69-room hotel and conference centre when completed in March.
It emerged that Mr Moriarty, who used to own a Dublin waste disposal company, has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing in relation to charges arising out of an investigation into the largest illegal dump ever uncovered in the State at Whitestown, Co Wicklow.
He has also been the subject of a High Court order to clean up 8,000 tonnes of waste, including hazardous hospital waste such as blood-contaminated tubes, at another Co Wicklow site in Coolnamadra.
Yesterday a Government spokesman said the Taoiseach was not personally acquainted with Mr Moriarty before Tuesday's visit.
"The Taoiseach has been visiting Sneem for over 20 years. Last Sunday he was asked by a local person, who is known to him, to visit the development and he was glad to do it," he said.
"He did so on Tuesday, the first available opportunity after the bank holiday. The visit was not in his diary. It was not an organised visit in that way. He had no prior knowledge of, or acquaintance with, Mr Louis Moriarty before the visit to the hotel development. The Taoiseach has absolutely nothing to say about any case pending that Mr Moriarty may be involved in. And he believes it would be very unhelpful for anybody else to do so."
It is understood that Mr Ahern, who is on a private family holiday at Parknasilla Great Southern Hotel near Kenmare, was approached by a local businesswoman, Nicola Duggan, who is involved in the project with Mr Moriarty. She also arranged for local photographers and journalists to attend. Mr Ahern showed no indication he knew Mr Moriarty when introduced to him, according to people who attended the event.
During the visit Mr Moriarty said Mr Ahern was "very much part of the village here", adding that people knew when to talk to him and when to leave him alone.