The Taoiseach said yesterday he felt let down and betrayed by Mr Ray Burke, who was found last week by the Flood tribunal to have received corrupt payments.
Asked if he had made an error of judgment in appointing Mr Burke to Cabinet in 1997, Mr Ahern said he had already "answered that extensively" in recent days. "If I had known all I know now, after five years of a tribunal, of course it would never have arisen."
Speaking in Galway where he was campaigning for a Yes vote on the Nice Treaty, Mr Ahern said: "Unfortunately Ray let us down, what was said at that time were not things that we knew of. And that is sad." However, he said he had asked Mr Burke several times if there were "any problems or difficulties and he assured me there weren't".
The Taoiseach said he was conscious that the matters arising from the tribunal were subject to litigation. "As Justice Flood said,. these are matters for the courts and there they will have to be solved."
Several Fianna Fáil backbenchers yesterday told The Irish Times that there was concern in the party that Mr Ahern had not taken a strong position and robustly denounced Mr Burke in the wake of the Flood tribunal report last week. However yesterday Mr Ahern did not directly answer questions as to whether Mr Burke had "some information" that allowed him demand a Cabinet post in 1997.
Meanwhile, Mr Burke yesterday declined to comment on the Flood tribunal report, which found that a series of payments received by him from builders, developers and the promoters of Century Radio were corrupt. He said his refusal to comment was based on legal advice but that "the opportunity to speak will present itself in the future which I look forward to very much."
Asked about a Sunday newspaper report that another politician, who is now and was then in the Cabinet, received corrupt payments worth £80,000, Mr Ahern said: "I don't know anything about it but if I read the article correctly I note that the tribunal has all that information so I am sure if there is any truth in it we will hear about it."
Invited to apologise to the country for Mr Burke's behaviour, he said he could not apologise for Mr Burke.
"But I can say we were deeply upset by what Ray Burke was involved in, but all these matters will come to court soon. But we feel let down and betrayed, as I said on Friday and yesterday and the third time to you today."
He said he wanted to separate the issues of the Nice referendum and the Flood tribunal report. "I'm trying to get the Nice Treaty passed because it is vitally important for the applicant countries, to 100 million people who want to join. I'm going to do all that I possibly can to win that referendum."
The Taoiseach was greeted by a small anti-Nice protest involving two founder members of Teilifís na Gaeltachta when he arrived from Kylemore Abbey at Baile na hAbhann in Connemara later yesterday evening.
Former member of the RTÉ Authority and film-maker Mr Bob Quinn, Ms Miriam Allen and Mr Donnacha Ó hEallaithe, lecturer at Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, staged the protest outside the TG4 headquarters.
"This is not a protest against TG4, but we just want to make a statement," Mr Ó hEallaithe said.