Pressure to disclose the nature and extent of lobbying by business interests in advance of the formation of the Coalition Government is intensifying.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, sought to defuse the issue yesterday by specifically denying that financier Mr Dermot Desmond had lobbied him to retain Mr Joe Walsh as Minister for Agriculture and Food.
He described such reports as "rubbish" and said Mr Desmond had neither telephoned him, written to him nor made approaches through a third party.
At the weekend, however, the Taoiseach acknowledged there had been "an enormous amount of lobbying", involving farm and other groups, before he announced the composition of his Cabinet last Thursday. But, he said, "I did not change much from where I wanted to go."
Farming organisations and prominent people in the bloodstock industry are understood to have pushed for the retention of Mr Walsh. But Mr Ahern did not refer by name to any of the individuals concerned. Pressure to reappoint the Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, is understood to have come mainly from within the Government.
Fine Gael, the Labour Party and the Green Party criticised the involvement of big business and outside interests in the appointment of Cabinet Ministers yesterday.
Mr Richard Bruton said the matter raised questions about the proper relationships between business and politics under Fianna Fáil. If ministers owed their positions to powerful business interests, would they be compromised in deciding policy matters affecting those interests, he asked. Unhealthy relationships had dogged business and politics for the last 10 years, he said, and the boundary line had again been crossed.
The Labour Party spokesman on the environment, Mr Eamon Gilmore, found it "extraordinary" that the Taoiseach, with a large Government majority, had been forced to change his mind on planned appointments by wealthy business interests. It was alarming that those interests had such influence, and it appeared they could determine who would serve in Government.
Mr Gilmore called on Mr Ahern to name the business interests who had lobbied on behalf of particular candidates for ministerial office and to state whether or not they were donors to Fianna Fáil. He said he had already lodged an application for disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.
People with the power to influence Cabinet appointments must also be able to influence legislation, he said.
The leader of the Green Party, Mr Trevor Sargent, called for a full disclosure of all the persons involved in making representations. He described as "extremely worrying" reports that individuals or members of a golden circle could influence Government at the highest level. He would be asking the Taoiseach to make a detailed disclosure of the facts when the Dáil resumes next week.
Mr Sargent urged the establishment of an independent appointments commission to ensure that positions on State boards were filled in a fair and reasonable manner in future and that people with the required kind of experience are appointed.
Speaking to reporters in Dublin, the Taoiseach said: "In relation to Dermot Desmond, I don't think I've heard or seen Dermot Desmond since I became Taoiseach five years ago. I might have seen him somewhere like the Curragh or something like that. I can't recall the last time I would have talked to Dermot Desmond. So I got no phone call from Dermot Desmond, I got no letter from Dermot Desmond, I got no message from Dermot Desmond from a third party, so I think it is entirely unfair on Dermot Desmond because I do not believe I have heard from Dermot Desmond about anything since I was made Taoiseach five years ago."
The Sunday Independent had reported that Mr Desmond was among those who lobbied Mr Ahern to retain Mr Walsh as Minister for Agriculture.
Mr Ahern admitted that he had been lobbied, particularly by farm organisations, about who would be appointed. The importance of continuity of policies in agriculture were emphasised to him from "mainly within the system and by farm bodies".
He laughed off suggestions that it was "the horse lobby" which determined Mr Walsh was to stay on in Agriculture. "I'd already decided that the horse end and the dog end of that Department was going to sport anyway. I know it's an industry but its also a sport."
He insisted he had made all decisions about who would be appointed to Cabinet by last weekend. He then announced his team on Thursday. Speculation about intense lobbying having taken place last Wednesday and Thursday was "amusing", he said.