THE ONLY elected representative of Fianna Fáil in Dublin Central has sought a report on the ownership of St Luke’s, the house that was at the heart of the political career of the former taoiseach, Bertie Ahern.
Cllr Mary Fitzpatrick, whose supporters have a strained relationship with supporters of the former taoiseach, has also sought a report on the constituency’s finances, which may be the most cash-rich in the State.
Ms Fitzpatrick is chairwoman of the renewal committee that was formed in the constituency after the new party leader, Micheál Martin, asked that each constituency organisation in the State set up one.
The committee’s membership also includes long-term party activists from the constituency who are known supporters of Mr Ahern.
Despite being the only elected politician for the party in Dublin Central, Ms Fitzpatrick does not hold clinics in St Luke’s and never has. She said she did not want to comment on why this was so.
Ms Fitzpatrick said she might form a view on what she thought should happen with St Luke’s after the committee had been given the information it had sought from the elected officers of the party comhairle Dáil ceanntair.
Constituency treasurer Dominic Dillane told The Irish Times the organisation has approximately €50,000 on deposit, including €30,000 in the BT account that was the subject of public hearings of the Mahon tribunal in 2008.
Mr Dillane said the account used to have “up to €80,000” in it, but some of the money had been used to clear the mortgage on St Luke’s.
One senior figure in the constituency organisation said the reversal of the party’s fortunes there could not be achieved until the issue of St Luke’s was dealt with.
The building is held in trust for the party organisation with the three surviving trustees being Joe Burke, Tim Collins and Des Richardson. The latter two are not members of the party and none of the trustees are constituency officers.
Mr Ahern continues to use the building. He told The Irish Times yesterday he moved his papers there from Leinster House after he retired from politics and that one of his two secretaries is working full-time on preparing the documents for archiving.
He said he used one room in St Luke’s for this purpose. “Apart from that the rest of it is for the next generation of the party and for all of the organisation.”
Mr Ahern’s website, bertieahernoffice.org, gives St Luke’s as its address.
Earlier this week Mr Martin criticised expenses claimed by Mr Ahern, saying they were too high and should be reduced. He also said Mr Ahern’s statement that he could have been elected president of Ireland was “ridiculous” and that Mr Ahern was “out of touch with reality”.
Mr Martin is due to meet with members of the party organisation in Dublin Central in the coming weeks, as he resumes his tour of party organisations in constituencies around the State.
The Mahon tribunal heard evidence about how St Luke’s was bought in 1988 as part of its inquiries into Mr Ahern’s personal finances.
The building was bought for £56,000 and was renovated for use as a constituency centre. An apartment was built on the first floor and Mr Ahern lived there at times.
The total cost of the building, including stamp duty, would have been in excess of £100,000 but the tribunal never found a bank account from which the money might have originated.
Mr Ahern told the tribunal that a group of approximately 25 supporters who met in the Gresham Hotel in late 1987, agreed to fund the purchase of the building by donating £1,000 per annum each over five years. No mortgage was taken out on St Luke’s at the time it was purchased.
The chairman of the constituency organisation, Prof Tommy Cooke, said it was not envisaged that the ownership of St Luke’s would be transferred to new trustees.
Meanwhile just six months after he quit politics, Mr Ahern is back in Leinster House – in the form of a portrait by Dublin-based James Hanley.
The picture of a cross-legged Mr Ahern sitting on a wooden chair against a plain blue background was hung yesterday near the main staircase leading to the Dáil chamber, close to portraits of many other former taoisigh.
Several weeks ago, it was reported Leinster House authorities were puzzling over where to find room for Mr Ahern’s portrait, which was commissioned in 2001 and finished in 2003.