Senior C of I clergy disown `Gazette' line on Taoiseach

At least one senior member of the Church of Ireland clergy has written to the Taoiseach dissociating himself from criticisms of Mr Ahern's relationship with Ms Celia Larkin. The letter followed an editorial in the Church of Ireland Gazette last month, which said it was "astonishing" that Ms Larkin should accompany the Taoiseach on State business and "remarkable that the leader of the Government should feel no need to make apology for this situation".

Yesterday a church spokeswoman confirmed that at least one senior figure had written to Mr Ahern "simply to say that the editorial was not the official stance of the Church of Ireland, but rather the personal view of the writer".

She said since the letter was written "on a personal and private basis", the church did not wish to reveal the identity of the clergy member. A number of senior clergy had indicated an intention to write to Mr Ahern, although there had been no formal occasions since the editorial when the matter could have been discussed.

On RTE radio's This Week programme yesterday, Mr Ahern said he had received "many letters from people in the highest authority in the Church of Ireland", as well as ordinary members. It had been "a bit of a shock" when he first learned about the editorial, "but I now understand it far better and I know that it had no official authority whatsoever".

On the question of the controversial biography of him written by journalists Ken Whelan and Eugene Masterson, he admitted he brought the problem on himself by agreeing to be interviewed in the first place. "Sometimes you do things you regret afterwards, and I suppose that's one of them."

He had no argument with the content of the book - "what I said I said"- but he had spoken to the authors on the basis that he was being written about rather than quoted, and "somewhere along the way that changed". However, he had no wish to continue the argument, which he now considered closed.

In a wide-ranging interview, the Taoiseach ruled out a snap general election to take advantage of his and Fianna Fail's high opinion poll ratings. He restated the Government's commitment to cutting the standard and higher personal tax rates, as well as reforming taxation through the credits system.

From the evidence of the many inquiries in progress, he said it was clear that in the past, "a large proportion of people believed it was fair game to avoid tax in any way they could". This could no longer be tolerated, but it also could no longer be claimed that taxes were too high, even at current rates. People had to accept the reality of paying their fair share, "whether you're the Taoiseach, a big businessman or the guy doing the important job of looking after the car park".

On Northern Ireland, Mr Ahern said he could foresee the executive being in place in time for the first anniversary of the Belfast Agreement. There would be difficulties, "but I think in the run-up to Easter we will be able to do that".

The participants in the talks had "got into many corners" in the past, not least on decommissioning, he said. "We will have to overcome the items on the agenda which caused difficulties and that will include decommissioning. It is an issue that has to be dealt with. Everybody in the North wants demilitarisation and we have to have demilitarisation to bring back normality to society."

Decommissioning would be dealt with as part of the Belfast Agreement, to which Sinn Fein was committed, the Taoiseach added. "I believe that republicans are deeply committed to the process. We'll just have to work our way through all these items."

The Church of Ireland Gazette editorial was praised yesterday by former High Court judge Mr Justice Rory O'Hanlon. Writing in the Sunday Independent, he said Mr Ahern's "defiance of convention" with his partner was showing disrespect to the Irish people.

He was delighted that someone had "found the courage to speak out" on the issue, and criticised the Catholic Church for failing to.