Mayor ‘embarrassed’ over Ahern findings

Mayor of Clare Pat Hayes has admitted he is “embarrassed” former Taoiseach and Fianna Fáil leader, Bertie Ahern, failed to give a “truthful account” at the Mahon Tribunal.
Bertie Ahern resigned from the Fianna Fáil party last weekend in the wake of stinging criticism of rulings and statements made disputing his evidence at the tribunal.
Councillor Hayes has also acknowledged the main findings against Mr Ahern are a “body-blow” to the party. Having listened to some of the evidence at the tribunal, Councillor Hayes recalled he felt at the time it wasn’t “adding up” and didn’t sound good for Mr Ahern.
However, he also hit out at the exorbitant cost of the tribunal, believed to be in the region of €350 million, and the fact that some individuals had earned multiples of what Bertie Ahern was paid.
“We have to come up with a far more cost-efficient way of getting to the bottom of issues like this,” he said.
Councillor Richard Nagle also admitted he was “embarrassed and annoyed” with the findings in relation to Mr Ahern.
“The vast majority of people in Fianna Fáil are honourable, decent people who feel betrayed by the actions of a tiny minority of people in power.
“While members of the public are extremely annoyed, I believe they will differentiate between ordinary people in the party and the minority of people at the top, who acted improperly,” he said.
Acknowledging the findings were very disappointing, Councillor Pat Keane predicted the party would bounce back in the long term, having come through bad times in the early 1970s after the Arms Crisis.
Councillor Pat Daly said the findings concerning Mr Ahern were very disappointing for public representatives at local level and agreed the latter had let the party down.
“There is no doubt it has damaged the party. There was a culture at the time when a small minority of people took payments for the rezoning of land.
“The party couldn’t do any more after taking the decision to expel Bertie. Now this is out in the open, I think the party can move on,” he said.
Councillor Tom McNamara stressed the culture of payments should not have been tolerated in the party and it is now time this is cleaned out of politics.
“Bertie did a lot of good but you can’t judge this against the bad. He had no option but to resign. The party has been damaged but we can now move on and build again,” he said.
However, Councillor Bill Chambers pointed out no finding had been made that Mr Ahern received a corrupt payment. The Cooraclare councillor expressed concern that the case against Mr Ahern involved allegations yet no “concrete” evidence was produced to back this up.
Stating a number of people had supported Mr Ahern’s evidence, Councillor Chambers felt everyone should be deemed “innocent until proven guilty” in a court of law.
He criticised the overall expenditure on the tribunal as “crazy” and questioned why there was such little media attention on the decision by An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, to give €30,000 in top-up payments to special advisors. 
Councillor Cathal Crowe said Mr Ahern had “let down” the party he had joined at the age of 17 and was extremely disappointed the party had been brought into disrepute by his actions.
“I looked up to Bertie Ahern. There was a whole type of bandwagon supporting Bertie Ahern when he was the leader of the party. It was like showbusiness. We all flew the party flag, which has been damaged,” he said.
In his statement, Bertie Ahern stressed it was clear that not a single witness directly stated that he was given a bribe, other than Thomas Gilmartin.
“And he stated he was only repeating what he claimed he had been told by Owen O’Callaghan, who always made it clear he never made that claim.
“I have never accepted a bribe or a corrupt payment. I am disappointed that the tribunal has said that I failed to give a ‘truthful account’.
“That statement is unfair and inaccurate, having regard to the evidence. It is one that I can’t and I will never accept and I will continue to examine ways to vindicate my name. I was honest with the tribunal and I reject completely any suggestion that I did otherwise.
“I have accepted before that my personal finances were chaotic and this arose from a busy and personally traumatic period in my life.
“I am incredulous that the tribunal has made findings rejecting the evidence of a number of individuals – including a number of friends who loaned me money – whose evidence supported mine. In the case of almost every person who lent me money, their explanations were not challenged at the hearing in any substantial way,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Councillor James Breen has expressed his disbelief over statements made by Deputy Timmy Dooley concerning the finances of former Fianna Fáil leader Bertie Ahern on the Tonight Show with presenter Vincent Browne on Monday night.
Councillor Breen said it seemed Deputy Dooley believed it was acceptable for Bertie Ahern to hide money from his wife during their judicial separation. The former Fianna Fáil councillor said he found it totally unacceptable for anyone to hide money from their wife, considering the husband would be under oath and would have to provide an affidavit to divide their assets and state his true financial means.
Councillor Breen claimed when Vincent Browne challenged Deputy Dooley on his view concerning the former Taoiseach’s finances, he tried to change his story.
“Have we anyone with principles in politics. It is time for politicians to stand up and be counted and state what is wrong in relation to what the Mahon Tribunal found.
“Any Dáil deputy who thinks Bertie’s evidence was truthful and honest, I would question their ability to represent people at national level,” he said.
However, Councillor Breen’s claims were refuted by Deputy Dooley, who insisted he stated on the programme that it was wrong for Mr Ahern to hide money from his wife. Deputy Dooley recalled he stated he had believed Mr Ahern’s evidence that his financial affairs were chaotic during his judicial separation because the latter was hiding money from his wife.
As a member of the national FF officer board, Deputy Dooley insisted no one should be left in any doubt of his views in relation to Mr Ahern’s actions after he fully supported a proposal to expel him from the party.
“I fully accept the findings of the Mahon Tribunal without any reservation. Fianna Fáil has a proud history of representation across the country, including Clare, which was well served by former deputies, who have been badly damaged by the actions of a small number of people,” he said.
Former Defence Minister Tony Killeen told The Clare Champion he supported Micheál Martin’s views on Mr Ahern. “It is a terrible negative end to a political career that had many positives,” he said.