Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has accused Mahon tribunal lawyers of displaying a prurient interest in his private life during questioning at Dublin Castle.
"There is a lot of sham indignation going on," he told the Sunday Independentyesterday. "The tribunal is not beyond question or reproach. It is not a sacred cow. It has gone on for years at considerable expense and some of the questioning of me in recent days went beyond the bounds of common decency."
Responding to recent questioning by Mahon lawyer Des O'Neill, Mr Ahern said: "Questioning about who is or is not entitled into my bedroom is not appropriate. Questions about what friends stayed loyal to me and which ones to [Mr Ahern's wife] Miriam at the time of our separation has nothing to do with planning in Dublin.
"Questions about when I formed a second personal relationship following my separation also have nothing to do with Mr Gilmartin's charges.
"This questioning is prying. It is prurient and it is nothing to do with what a planning tribunal should be dealing with. I said in evidence that Mr O'Neill was looking for headlines."
Mr Ahern also defended the right of his Cabinet colleagues to comment on the way the tribunal had dealt with him.
"Ministers, like any citizen, are perfectly entitled in a democratic society to have a point of view. If we are saying that people are not allowed to say anything negative about the tribunal, then we are living in an era of the Star Chamber," he said.
He told the newspaper that he believed he had been subjected to much more vigorous questioning than had been faced by property developer Tom Gilmartin.
"Judge Mahon says it is the role and duty of counsel for the tribunal to probe and test evidence of witnesses. That is a fact and nobody denies it.
"But there seems to be a zeal in terms of probing and testing of my evidence that was not apparent in the examination of Mr Gilmartin.
"Anyone reading the transcripts will see that the tribunal do not afford the same degree of scrutiny to Mr Gilmartin, who has made incredible claims based on anonymous sources.
"Anonymous sources told him about Ministers bribing other Ministers with rent boy allegations; anonymous sources told him about me having €15 million in offshore bank accounts; and there has been other evidence about people falling out of wardrobes and other bizarre claims.
"People should read the transcripts and make their own minds up about the kid-glove questioning of Mr Gilmartin by the tribunal," he said.
"Maybe some enterprising researcher might do a tally. But I think it would be a good bet to say that in all the submissions that have been made by my lawyers at the tribunal, the number of times the judge has ruled against the tribunal's legal team can be counted on one hand," Mr Ahern told the newspaper.
