FF hit back over Irish Times story

Within an hour of today’s Irish Times going up on the web, Fianna Fáil had put out a statement slamming one of its lead stories on the continuing controversies over payments to Bertie Ahern. In a ever-so-slightly conspiracy theorist tone, FF allege that the story is part of “a carefully orchestrated campaign to cause mayhem and confusion during the General Election”.

From rte.ie/news:

Fianna Fáil is lashing out at new allegations in this morning’s Irish Times.

In a statement released late last night, the party claims the information is part of a carefully orchestrated campaign to cause mayhem and confusion during the General Election by unlawfully leaking confidential documents relating to the work of the Mahon Tribunal.

The Irish Times story gives further details about the purchase of the Taoiseach’s home in the 1990s, a controversial transaction involving Bertie, Celia Larkin and Michéal Wall.

Mr Ahern first rented, and later bought, a house from Mr Wall, and has confirmed that in December 1993 the businessman gave him £30,000 in cash, which he says was used for renovations on the house, overseen by Ms Larkin.

A Fianna Fáil spokesperson says the Taoiseach will not respond to ‘piecemeal’ disclosures as it would only fuel that ‘carefully orchestrated campaign.’

If questions about Mr Ahern’s finances dominate the election campaign for a second day in a row, it would be bad news for the Green Party which is due to publish its manifesto this morning.

The two main opposition parties, Fine Gael and Labour, also plan to formally launch their joint programme ‘The Alliance for Change’.

Fianna Fáil hopes it can concentrate on justice and security issues.