Enda Kenny Leaders' questions: Bertie Ahern was Minister for Finance when he received €8,000 from a group in Manchester, the Dáil heard yesterday afternoon during Leaders' question.
Mr Ahern said that for many years he had been closely associated with a number of organisations in Manchester. He had spoken to business groups.
He had looked up his records as far back as 1977, as well as those relating to his wife and his children.
"I am saying the only other time I was in receipt of anything was from a group in Manchester, at a particular occasion, where there were about 25 people . . . they had given me a sum of money which I had dealt with properly in taxes . . . That was in 1994 . . . I checked the date . . . I think I was Minister."
The matter was raised by Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny, who said that Mr Ahern had spoken on Tuesday night of receiving stg£8,000 at a function in Manchester.
"As I understand the green book, which applies to ministerial responsibility, it is strictly forbidden, completely forbidden, to accept any donations, any pecuniary reward, for personal use as a Minister," said Mr Kenny.
"It seems as if that confused statement was using the office . . . if you were in office at the time, as some nixer for reward. And that should not be."
Pressed by Mr Kenny on whether he should have accepted the money, Mr Ahern said:
"I suppose if hindsight was foresight, you would never make any mistakes at all . . . They were loans given to me in good faith, to be of assistance to me . . .
"If you were to ask if it was today, after all that has happened over the years, and I was in a similar position, the answer to your question is probably no . . . No, not probably, no," said Mr Ahern.
"But the reality is at the time, I was in in a difficult position. They put pressure on me to accept these and I did. I only accepted them after some considerable time, loans with interest. I knew what the position was. I knew what the law is."
Mr Kenny asked the Taoiseach how he was prepared to apply standards to himself he was not prepared to apply to everybody else.
"Are you prepared now to stand up in this House, in the honoured seat that you occupy, and admit that what you did, in accepting €50,000 in cash donations, was wrong ? "
Mr Ahern said the truth was more powerful than the most baseless of political attacks and went on to list false allegations made against him.
"I have never dishonoured any office in my responsibility. While I will be the first to admit that I have made mistakes in my life and career, one mistake I never made, and never will make, is to enrich myself by abusing or misusing the trust of people of this nation have placed in me," he said.
Mr Ahern said he had never received cash donations.
"I accepted money reluctantly on the basis of loans with interest."
He had not broken any tax law, he said.
Mr Kenny said that the silence from the new Tánaiste Michael McDowell was deafening.
Ahern under pressure from all sides
"Are you prepared now to stand up in this House, in the honoured seat that you occupy, and admit that what you did, in accepting 0,000 in cash donations, was wrong? "
- Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny
"It would also be helpful in achieving clarity if there was a little bit less of the common man routine. It is a long time, Taoiseach, since you were a common man. You've been driven around this country since 1987. You never put your hand in your pocket at a forecourt to fill the car with petrol. You're earning more than 50,000 per annum so there is no point in comparing yourself to the man on Hill 16 who got into a bit of trouble and had a whiparound."
- Labour leader Pat Rabbitte
"Did the Taoiseach ever hear of a bank draft? This morning it took me two minutes to draft the letter the Taoiseach could send with it: 'Ah Jaysus lads, you'll have me in huge trouble if you don't take back the €50,000. My circumstances are improved and I'll have 50 reporters traipsing after me for the rest of my life if this comes out. Bertie. It was as simple as that. Perhaps he might have said: 'PS: Tell Paddy the Plasterer to steer clear of Callely's house. He is in enough trouble with the painter already'."
- Socialist Party leader Joe Higgins
