Enda Kenny Calls on Cowen to depose Bertie, Ahern and Cowen hit back

Briefly, Enda releases a statment calling on Cowen to act on Bertie if he refuses to step aside and they reply against his ‘increasingly personal’ attacks. Both statements below the fold.

Enda Kenny

Cowen Should Act if Taoiseach Refuses to Step Down – Kenny

“With prices and unemployment rising and tax revenue and house prices falling the Taoiseach and his Government have serious problems of their own making that they should be 100% focused on. Unfortunately for the taxpayer struggling to pay a mortgage or a patient trying to access urgent health care this Taoiseach and his Cabinet are constantly being distracted and diverted from their day jobs by the circus of fantasy and fairytale surrounding the Taoiseach’s financial affairs. Too often the Taoiseach and this Cabinet are obliged to explain the unexplainable and defend the indefensible.

“Last September, I set out in detail why we cannot have confidence in Bertie Ahern and why he should step down. The revelations since then, especially his failure to pay his taxes, only add to the case against the Taoiseach staying in power. I again call on the Taoiseach to step down.

“Given that the cowardly Cabinet, whether the Greens, PDs or Fianna Fail, are unwilling to force this outcome it is clear that the only person in a position to end this sorry saga is the Tánaiste, Brian Cowen. The man who declared that he did not need the Greens to keep him honest should now recognise that it is not acceptable to have a Taoiseach who cannot declare compliance with the tax codes, who cannot explain €300,000 worth of lodgements to his accounts and who has clearly misled the public and the Dáil over his inexplicable finances.

“If Mr Ahern does not step down, then the Tánaiste should act.

“Since September 2006, at every turn, the Taoiseach has portrayed himself as somebody who has been put upon and victimised. He has lashed out at the media, at the Mahon Tribunal and anyone who questions his extraordinary stories. The reality is that the only person responsible for the difficulties the Taoiseach now finds himself in is the Taoiseach himself.

“It is Mr Ahern who had €300,000 in today’s terms lodged, in cash, to his or his partners accounts over a two year period. It is Mr Ahern whose explanations for those lodgements have changed by the day and remain as incredible as ever. It is Mr Ahern who has misled the Irish people in relation to his tax affairs. It is Mr Ahern who is not in a position as a serving Taoiseach to assure the Irish people that his tax affairs are in order.

“Scarcely a week goes by without yet another contradiction of what the Taoiseach has already said or new information which adds further to the extraordinary stories of the large amounts of money washing around his accounts in the mid 1990s.

“In my period in public life I have found the Irish people to be decent and forgiving. People know that politicians are not perfect in every way. They do not seek to intrude into the private lives of politicians. But they do expect their political leaders to behave in an honest manner.

“What the Irish people also care about is that they are not taken for fools.

“For months now we have seen the Taoiseach portray himself time and time again as a victim. Before he appeared at the Mahon Tribunal he assured everyone that he couldn’t wait to get before the judges and give a full and categorical explanation for his personal finances. Now that he has had six days at the Tribunal he is complaining that he is being victimised in some way and treated differently from other witnesses.

“The Taoiseach seems to have forgotten that as with Mr Ray Burke, the late Mr Liam Lawlor, Mr George Redmond and Mr Frank Dunlop the tribunal is following the money trail – a tried, tested and successful method for tribunals of enquiry.

“As Deputy Ahern himself said in the Dáil in September 1997 “following the money is the most efficient and effective way to progress this type of enquiry”.

“I believe that as he faces yet another length of questioning at the Tribunal, the Taoiseach is at a crossroads. He has a clear choice.

“He can maintain his convoluted reconstructions, his selective memory, his reinterpretation of what the English language means. If he takes this path he condemns the Irish people to further months of revelation, claim and counter claim. He erodes further the reputation and authority of the Office of the Taoiseach. He demeans the profession of politics and most worrying of all he increases the cynicism about politics, a cynicism which was primed by his predecessor Mr Charles J Haughey.

“Or Mr Ahern can go into the Tribunal and give one full comprehensive and truthful account of his personal finances. A “warts and all” confession which lays out clearly for the Irish people what amounts of money he received, who gave them to him and why they were given to him.

“The longer that Mr Ahern denies the truth to the Irish people the greater the damage will be to his political reputation and legacy when he leaves Office as he proposes to do in the time ahead.

“I make this appeal to the Taoiseach because I believe that the Irish people want an explanation from him which they can believe. The Irish people want an end to this charade and they want the Government and the Dáil to focus on the many challenges facing the country as the economy tightens, many public services continue under performing and crime remains ever present on our streets.

“If Mr Ahern refuses to adopt a new open and honest approach to this issue the political consequences are clear. My party, on our part, will continue to highlight the failure to come clean with the Irish people, the lack of credibility and the damage which he is doing to his office.

“In previous governments it was possible to look to junior partners to enforce some level of standards on Fianna Fail. The junior partners in the current government are impotent and passive accomplices. I do not expect either the Green Party or the PDs to take action. Both John Gormley and his Ministers along with Mary Harney have now chosen to put their Ministerial seats of office ahead of getting clear explanations and accountability from the Taoiseach.

“Deputy Brian Cowen has been nominated by Mr Ahern to succeed him on retirement. He is Deputy Leader of his Party.

“Mr Cowen makes much of his own sense of integrity. He bitterly reminded the Green Party of his belief that he does not need anyone to clean up his politics. However with each day that goes by, Mr Cowen is being used as an accomplice by the Taoiseach in a great deception on the Irish people.

“As Minister for Finance, Mr Cowen sits beside a Taoiseach who has not paid his taxes. As Deputy Leader of Fianna Fail Mr Cowen sits beside a Leader of Fianna Fail who has not explained how a donation given for the Party ended up in his own bank account. As Tánaiste, Mr Cowen sits beside a Taoiseach who has misled the Dáil in relation to his tax affairs and has refused to correct the record.

“When eventually Mr Ahern goes down in flames as the mounting evidence becomes unbearable, Mr Cowen will not be able to claim that he did not know or that he had no information or that he could not act.

“The reality is Mr Cowen does know the Taoiseach has not paid his taxes. Mr Cowen does know the Taoiseach has misled the Dáil and the Irish people. Mr Cowen does know that the Taoiseach has not given any credible explanation for his personal finances.

“If Mr Cowen does not act, and I believe act urgently, he too will bear his responsibility for Mr Ahern continuing in Office despite the compelling case for his removal.

“Other Fianna Fail Ministers are equally culpable in this farce. They are happy to condone a situation where money destined for Fianna Fail was diverted for the personal use of Mr Ahern. Not only will they not tackle the Taoiseach but they parade out in an orchestrated and sinister campaign to attack an institution set up by the Oireachtas to carry out an independent enquiry. To his credit, Mr Cowen did not engage in that attack. Perhaps his absence from the gaggle of Ministers lining up with their knives aimed at the Mahon Tribunal provides a glimmer of hope that he may find his voice, find his courage and go to the Taoiseach and tell him that its time to go.

“As a the country faces a range of serious economic and social challenges, the capacity of Government and politics in general to tackle these issues is diminished and distracted by the Taoiseach’s behaviour. Government mishandling of issues like driving licences, water charges and Ministerial pay increases is clear evidence of a Government at odds with itself, lacking leadership and direction and unsure and unable to make decisions in the public interest.”

ENDS  

Ahern and Cowen’s Reply

The Tánaiste and Minister for Finance, Mr Brian Cowen T.D., is not surprised at the vitriolic nature of Mr Kenny’s statement today.

He does not intend to take lectures from Mr Kenny on this or any other issue.

The Tánaiste said:

“Personal attacks are becoming Mr Kenny’s stock in trade. I reject them just as the electorate rejected him last year when he sought the people’s confidence. I will take no lectures from that quarter.”