FIANNA FÁIL leader Micheál Martin and party officials are working on a strategy to respond to the Mahon tribunal report, especially potentially adverse findings against former taoiseach Bertie Ahern.
The party has taken the view at the highest level that the final report of the planning tribunal, chaired by Judge Alan Mahon, will be a watershed moment for the party, and particularly for Mr Martin.
The tribunal has so far cost more than €97 million, including almost €50 million for the legal team, nearly €30 million in administration costs, and more than €10 million for third-party legal costs.
One senior TD said Mr Martin’s response to the report, including how he handles its findings against one of his predecessors, will be the “defining moment” of his leadership.
There is a view within Fianna Fáil that if the leader is not seen to respond decisively and take robust action against those named negatively, including Mr Ahern if he is among them, his efforts to rebuild the party could be undermined.
Several party TDs and Senators have said privately that the measures to be considered must be tough and unambiguous, including up to expulsion from the party.
A party spokesman said Mr Martin did not want to pre-empt the outcome of the report or any findings against individuals. However, he agreed that the report and its conclusions on elected Fianna Fáil representatives represented the biggest, and potentially most damaging, challenge facing the party in 2012.
“We are under no illusion about that. People who have disengaged from the party who still want us to do well, they will be looking closely at how we respond to Mahon.
“We need to get across a big message that we are determined to change and this will give us an opportunity to be straight and honest in our response . . . We will make it clear to the party and to the country that we take it very seriously.”
Fianna Fáil’s environment spokesman Niall Collins also portrayed the report as a potentially pivotal moment for the party.
“We will have to be able to demonstrate to the public there’s a complete break from past practice – and that means a strong response.”
Another senior TD, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Mr Martin had so far escaped the “odium” associated with the previous cabinet. “The Mahon report will pose a huge challenge for him to distance himself from Bertie Ahern, if the tribunal makes adverse findings against him,” the TD said.
The party’s leader in the Seanad, Daragh O’Brien, said Fianna Fáil was well positioned to make a clean break with the past.
If the party does move to expel any of those named in the report, the move will have to win the support of two-thirds of the party’s ardchomhairle.