Ahern consulted gardai over rumours

The Taoiseach consulted the Garda Commissioner before the appointment of former minister Mr Ray Burke to his Cabinet in 1997, he told the Dáil yesterday.

Mr Ahern said that in the "light of what I was told by him in respect of Ray Burke and planning matters, my assessment was confirmed that the rumours relating to him were unsubstantiated".

Mr Ahern said he was consequently satisfied to proceed with the appointment of Mr Burke as minister for foreign affairs.

In a staunch defence of his actions in appointing Mr Burke, Mr Ahern reiterated that he had never taken a bribe in his life and he condemned "malicious rumours" by the Fine Gael leader, Mr Enda Kenny, insinuating that he might have accepted a bribe of £80,000 between 1989 and 1992. He accused Fine Gael of sinking to "recycling discredited rumour".

He also hit out at the Labour leader, Mr Ruairí Quinn, over a "baseless rumour" against him in relation to the Elan corporation, and he said Mr Quinn should be in the chamber to apologise.

No Progressive Democrat TDs were present for Mr Ahern's 20-minute speech during the second day of the Dáil debate on the Flood interim report on planning and payments. No Independent or Sinn Féin TDs were present either, while over half of Fianna Fáil's deputies listened to and applauded their leader's speech.

Mr Ahern said that he met Garda Commissioner Mr Pat Byrne to discuss his own security and transport arrangements for the new Cabinet. He had taken the opportunity to raise the issue of allegations of wrongdoing in the planning process, referred by a Newry company of solicitors. He had asked the Commissioner if he was aware of the position on any such matters relating to Mr Burke.

"I had a subsequent telephone call from the Commissioner, who had looked into the investigations of such allegations and, in the light of what I was told by him in respect of Ray Burke and planning matters, my assessment was confirmed that the rumours relating to him were unsubstantiated. I was therefore satisfied to proceed with his appointment."

The Taoiseach said it would not have been "prudent or proper" before Mr Burke's appointment to interview Mr James Gogarty about his allegations, because he had been told that Mr Gogarty at that time was "refusing to sign any statement for the gardaí".

During the Taoiseach's speech, Mr Kenny intervened to ask would he answer questions on the payments issue during normal Taoiseach's question time. Mr Ahern said he had no responsibility for passports or Golden Island in Athlone, about which questions were raised regarding its tax designation.

Then he hit out at Mr Quinn for his allegation earlier in the Dáil that Mr Ahern had deliberately misled the people of Macroom, Co Cork, when he made an announcement with Elan's chief executive about the purchase of a plant there and the creation of 300 jobs.

The Taoiseach said that when he agrees to attend a jobs announcement, he does not ring up the chairman of the board in the US to question the announcement.

"That's the problem. You don't ask questions," said Mr Bernard Allen (FG, Cork North-Central). Mr Ahern threw back: "That's the problem with your party. You ask the question but you don't want to hear the answer."

The Taoiseach added that he thought it fairly proper that if a company bought a premises and management asked him to attend, that they didn't do it "for a bit of fun, just to make me attend".

The Taoiseach pointed out that passports issued by Mr Burke to investors were not the subject of Mr Flood's interim report, but he stressed that "the Flood tribunal is empowered by its terms of reference to investigate any decision made by Mr Burke that could involve corruption".

He reiterated that he had read a note on the passports files in 1994 and there was "nothing on the files that suggested that any corrupt actions by Mr Burke lay behind the unusual course followed by his Department".

Mr Ahern warned again that comments in the Dáil could be of a sufficiently prejudicial nature so as to prevent a trial from proceeding. He said his decision to appoint Mr Burke as minister was a "bona fide one" based on the Dublin North TD's "undisputed political abilities, his categorical assurances that he had done nothing wrong and my own inquiries. The fact that I subsequently described him as an 'honourable man', shows that I genuinely believed the assurances of Mr Burke when I questioned him."

Mr Ahern said he had spoken to Mr Burke several times about rumours and allegations, and Mr Burke assured him he had done nothing wrong. Regarding the 1989 election, Mr Burke said he had received a £30,000 donation from a building firm and he had done nothing wrong in respect of that donation. The matter was raised with JMSE, Bovale and a number of party members in Dublin. Mr Ahern said he had no evidence that Mr Burke engaged in any act of corruption. It was not for him to speculate as to why Mr Joseph Murphy jnr denied to Mr Dermot Ahern that he had made a payment of £30,000 to Mr Burke.

"The fact is that Ray Burke accepted he had received a payment ... It is now clear that I was misled, as was this House, by Ray Burke."