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More Bad News For Ahern on Passport Issue
Read more about: Bertiegate, Fine Gael
Following today’s already embarrasing u-turn on his affairs with Revenue, looking like he was trying to bore a hole in his shoes with his eyes. Phil Hogan has released the results of a PQ which reveal that Bertie Ahern helped Norman Turner (of Tom Morrissey fame) to apply for a passport in 1994. Over this period Turner was involved in the Phoenix Park stadium and casino scheme, with Ahern attending Old Trafford as his guest during this period and also the fundraiser Des Richardson admitting to receiving $10,000 in an envelope for the party form Turner. It is surely commonplace for politicians to help people out with regard to passport applications, however this only deepens a relationship which many had sought to portray as very fleeting.
Hogan:
The timing of the issue of the passport is significant given what we now know about financial transactions involving Mr Ahern and his associates during 1994:
- The Tribunal has heard that Mr Ahern’s fundraiser, Mr Des Richardson was given €10,000 by Mr Turner in 1994.
- On 8 August 1994 (the day before the passport was issued) Mr Ahern lodged £20,000 into the bank allegedly from his £50,000 ’savings’.
- On 11 October 1994 Mr Ahern lodged an amount equivalent to £25,000stg into the bank.
- On 5 December 1994, Ms Larkin, on Mr Ahern’s behalf, lodged an amount equivalent to $45,000 into the bank.“The Taoiseach must now make a full and honest statement about his relationship with Mr Turner.
PQ is below.
Question No. 137
Parliamentary Question - Dept Details
To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the date an Irish passport was issued to a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter.
- Phil Hogan.For WRITTEN answer on Wednesday, 12th December, 2007.
Ref No: 34484/07
REPLY
The person in question was issued with his most recent Irish passport on 7th February 2006.
Question No. 221
Parliamentary Question - Dept Details
To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the date that a person (details supplied) was issued with their first Irish passport; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
- Phil Hogan.* For WRITTEN answer on Wednesday, 19th December, 2007.
Ref No: 35817/07
REPLY
The person in question was issued with their first Irish passport on 9 August 1994.
Question No. 606
Parliamentary Question - Dept Details
To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if the passports issued to a person (details supplied) were the subject of representations from, transmitted or routed through, or in any way facilitated by, a Member of the Houses of the Oireachtas; if so, the name of that member; the date the applications were received in the Passport Office; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
- Phil Hogan.
* For WRITTEN answer on Wednesday, 30th January, 2008.
PQ Ref No: 34484/07 Mr Norman Turner. Irish passport issued on 7 February 2006. PQ RefNo:”35817/07 Mr Norman Turner. Irish passport issued on 9 August 1994.)
RefNo: 2432/08
REPLY
The application for the passport issued on 9 August, 1994 was received in the Passport Office, Molesworth Street on 5 August, 1994. The application file indicates that the passport was to be returned through the office of Mr. Bertie Ahern, T.D. This is the normal procedure for applications forwarded by the offices of Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas. For instance, in 2007, 6,200 such passports were dealt with through offices of Oireachtas Members.The application for the passport issued on 7 February, 2006 was made in person by the applicant at the Irish Embassy in Berne on 28 January, 2006.
Now the echoes of Ray Burke and CJH grow louder.
And why was the application made in Switzerland?
Echoes of Reynolds
I see now the spin from Bertie’s spokesman that Norman was eligible through an Irish mother. Which doesn’t explain why the application had to go through Bertie’s office or why it was filed in Berne. Or why as Hogan’s question reveals, the dates are so interesting in light of what Mahon has already established.
Of course Turner is key because he’s the first documented link between Bertie and dollar donations, if only indirectly (since they’re both linked to Des Richardson).
The other question: did Bertie double-cross Turner? His claim for why there couldn’t have been any corruption with Turner was backed up by the fact that Turner’s casino proposal never went ahead. But we don’t know the intent in 1994.
There are so many threads to begin unwinding thanks to this revelation about Turner that it seems that another month of policy making will be overshadowed by the fact that Bertie cannot shake of persistent stories about bad behvaiour. Gavin is spot on about Reynolds but all of our FF leaders have taught us that it is not about the crime.
You dont resign for any one particular thing, it is the drip-drip that kills you. By that measure Bertie is increasingly imperilled, though who knows when it might actually happen.
Turner also has form in this department, Tom Morrissey has claimed he was offered money for a vote by Turner or his consortium. Of all the murky characters paraded out so far this one is potentially toxic to Bertie.
The point that the opposition have him on is not that he isn’t entitled to help with a passport application but that, again, he appears to have stopped short of giving all the details.