Bertie Ahern is causing grievous damage to political standards by rehabilitating the career of Beverley Flynn and announcing his intention to appoint her as a minister of state. The Independent Mayo TD was expelled on two separate occasions from the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party for encouraging people to evade tax.
But she still does not accept what she did was wrong and deserving, at least, of a public apology. She was brash again yesterday challenging not just her current circumstances but the Taoiseach's judgment in promising her a position as minister of state before long.
The manner of settling her legal bill with RTÉ is no class act. Ms Flynn was in danger of losing her Dáil seat because of a refusal to pay costs and expenses amounting to almost €3 million arising from an unsuccessful libel action against Charlie Bird. But public support from the Taoiseach, along with a parallel constitutional challenge, probably encouraged RTÉ to settle on favourable terms. Paying less than half of what is properly owed to a semi-State body is a sweet deal. We, RTÉ licence holders, will foot the bill.
Ms Flynn continues to present herself as a hapless victim. Eight years ago, full of righteous indignation, she instituted legal proceedings against RTÉ for suggesting she had encouraged clients at the National Irish Bank to evade tax. Had she won that case, Ms Flynn might have been several million euro better off. She lost. As a consequence, she was expelled from the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party. An appeal to the Supreme Court against the judgment facilitated her return to the party and her re-election. But, when the Supreme Court found she had "no reputation deserving of legal protection" she again lost the whip. As a sign of the Taoiseach's particular concern as the local elections approached in 2004, she was expelled from the Fianna Fáil organisation for "conduct unbecoming". Since then, Mahon tribunal lawyers found her to be suffering from "selective amnesia" when it investigated the financial affairs of her father and former EU commissioner, Pádraig Flynn.
There is no doubting Ms Flynn's abilities. She is intelligent, articulate and politically astute. In normal circumstances, she would be an addition to any political party. These are not normal circumstances as the standards that should apply in political life are being called into question. She has been elected in Mayo and that is no mean achievement in the constituency of the alternative taoiseach, Enda Kenny. Clientelism, family connections and constituency work must have been deciding factors.
Whatever about that, the Taoiseach has a responsibility to take a broader view in the national interest. Having expelled her from Fianna Fáil for conduct unbecoming, what has happened to change that situation? Maybe he wants Pádraig Flynn on side at the Mahon tribunal or maybe he, too, believes that B Flynn is a class act. There are more deserving names which spring to mind for promotion: Seán Ardagh and Seán Fleming.