Martin 'surprised' by Mahon criticism of former cabinet members' comments
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has said he accepts the findings of the Mahon Tribunal and that they have serious implications for those involved.
Mr Martin is meeting the officer board of Fianna Fáil this evening where it is expected that steps will be taken to expel Bertie Ahern from the party.
Speaking to RTE this evening, Mr Martin said the findings in relation to Bertie Ahern and Padraig Flynn were very serious and that action would have to be taken in relation to those findings.
Mr Martin also said he was surprised by comments in the report by Judge Mahon in which he accused former Cabinet ministers of launching a sustained attack on the tribunal in a bid to collapse the inquiry.
Mr Martin distanced himself from that remark and said the judge failed to identify the ministers involved.
- Micheál Martin described the extent of the tribunal’s investigations as “bizarre”.
- Willie O’Dea, still a TD, gave one of the most barbed criticisms in December 2007.
He said: “I’m waiting for the day that the tribunal goes back to Bertie Ahern’s First Communion money and starts questioning whether he got it in notes or coins or whether he put it in a real bank or a piggy bank or did he get a half crown from Owen O’Callaghan,” he said.
- Dick Roche felt it appropriate to back up Mr O’Dea and described the tribunal’s questioning of the then taoiseach as “petty, it was personal and prurient and at times, it bordered on voyeurism”.
- Dermot Ahern, who held several ministerial positions under Bertie Ahern, felt astonished by the Mahon investigation at the time.
He said: “The line of questioning from the tribunal brings to mind what Supreme Court Judge Sue Denham said... the Oireachtas had given the tribunal a job to do to investigate urgent planning matters and she said what was happening 10 years on was the antithesis of an investigation into urgent planning matters.”
