Bertie Ahern findings:Taoiseach Bertie Ahern facilitated the misuse of party funds by Charles Haughey by signing blank cheques for an account designed to receive funds for the party leader from the Exchequer, the Moriarty report found.
However, the tribunal was "satsified" Mr Ahern did not know what the money drawn on the account was being used for.
The Leader's Allowance Account, which was set up to receive the Fianna Fáil party leader's allowance from the State, was used by Mr Haughey to make payments that were of personal benefit to Mr Haughey, the report said.
The account was maintained in the joint names of Mr Haughey, Mr Ahern and Ray MacSharry at Allied Irish Banks, Lower Baggot Street, Dublin 2. Mr Ahern was a co-signatory of the account from 1984 to 1992 and pre-signed most of the 1,615 cheques drawn on the account in that period.
He has previously told the Moriarty tribunal he was appointed as a co-signatory because he was a party whip.
"For all practical purposes, the account was treated by Mr Haughey as being at his disposal, and Mr Haughey accepted that it was used for payments not intended to be made from the Leader's Allowance, including payments to meet his personal expenditures," the report said.
The report added that although Mr Ahern, who co-signed the cheques drawn on the account at the time, facilitated the misuse of the account, he had "had no reason to believe that the account was operated otherwise than for a proper purpose.
"There were no statutory or other controls governing the operation of the account at the time," the tribunal said.
It added that the practice of signing blank cheques by Mr Ahern was "inappropriate and imprudent, having regard to the nature of the account (being one used to administer funds provided from the public purse), the skills and experience then possessed by Mr Ahern".
The report said this had been "largely accepted" by Mr Ahern in his evidence to the Moriarty tribunal, "and it is noteworthy that, at the instance of Mr Ahern, certain amendments to the law governing the allowance have since been made, which have introduced significant statutory controls in terms of both the application of the allowance, and in terms of accountability to the Public Office Commission".
Mr Ahern's office said in a statement this evening the Government had introduced significant reforms and safeguards to prevent political corruption in the years since the tribunal began investigating Mr Haughey's affairs.
"While there have been significant measures of reform and safeguards introduced as the Tribunal work was in progress, the Taoiseach indicated that the Government would consider the report very carefully over the coming weeks to identify any further initiatives which might be required," it added.
