The Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, has been identified as the politician at the centre of allegations that a minister did not pay Aer Rianta for €5,000 worth of drink and cigars in the early 1990s.
The extraordinary allegation, that could finish any minister's political career, appeared in the Sunday Independent. The report said an unnamed minister had not only used his Office to supply his friends and constituents with gift-wrapped Christmas presents from Aer Rianta, but had then refused to pay for them.
The Government's initial response to the allegation was unsatisfactory. Mr Brennan announced that investigations into the matter would be conducted internally, by organisations for which he himself had ministerial responsibility. There was no move to establish an outside inquiry. And a delay of two weeks was envisaged before the results became known. While Mr Brennan rubbished the allegations in private conversations with his Cabinet colleagues, the public was left guessing at the identity of the minister involved.
Yesterday, after three days of intense speculation, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, read a two-paragraph statement from Mr Brennan into the Dáil record. In it, the Minister said that, to the very best of his recollection after a lapse of 12 years, he had never personally received, authorised or had knowledge of the ordering, purchasing or delivery of the goods mentioned. The Taoiseach went on to hope the inquiries instituted by Mr Brennan could be brought to a speedy conclusion.
On the face of it, Mr Brennan's denial appeared to be comprehensive. But the possibility of a defective memory was invoked in the first sentence. And the statement was so carefully drafted that an excessively enthusiastic political assistant might have ordered and distributed the goods as Christmas presents, unbeknownst to the Minister. Critically, it failed to address the apparent conflict that existed between Mr Brennan's version of events and that of former Aer Rianta chairman, Mr Dermot O'Leary. Mr O'Leary, a prominent Cork businessman and current member of the Fianna Fáil national executive, has stated that he raised the matter of the unpaid bill with Mr Brennan in 1993, after it had been brought to his attention by an executive of Aer Rianta, and that the Minister had denied knowledge of it. Mr O'Leary then requested the matter be pursued through appropriate channels within the semi-State company.
Any investigation into this affair must include interviews with Mr O'Leary, and with those executives within Aer Rianta he spoke to about the matter. Simply searching for a paper trail, which might not exist after a passage of 12 years, will not serve.
It is vitally important for Mr Brennan's reputation, and for the standing of the Coalition Government, that all doubts are laid to rest. The sooner the investigations are completed, the better.