Read 'em and weep: Yet Another First Communion Photo found!

Statement by Our Dear Leader, Mr Bertie Ahern, An Taoiseach Supreme, 13th May, 2007.

Mr Gilmartin's allegations are false

The two allegations made by Tom Gilmartin are false and malicious. These allegations are that I received £50,000 in 1989 and £30,000 in 1992 or later from Mr Owen O'Callaghan. It is these allegations (not my financial affairs) which are being investigated by the Mahon Tribunal. A brief examination of Mr Gilmartin's allegations will demonstrate that they simply do not stand up. After almost nine years of investigations there is no evidence of me receiving any money from Mr. O'Callaghan and there is no evidence of me doing any favour for Mr. O'Callaghan. The allegations made by Mr. Gilmartin are hearsay. He has no personal knowledge of any facts which could support such an allegation. I simply did not receive any money from Mr O'Callaghan nor did I do any favours for him. The allegations are baseless. They are not credible. They are borne out of spite and malice. To demonstrate this to the public, I will now refer to the history and changing nature of these allegations. Before so doing I want to note that between February 1998 and December 2002 Mr Gilmartin had 58 separate communications with the Mahon Tribunal. The timing of the making of the two allegations against me is of some importance, as is the changing content of the allegations.

(i) The £30,000 allegation

* Mr Gilmartin first referred to me receiving money from Mr O'Callaghan in his sixth communication with the Tribunal, in May 1998, but didn't mention the sum allegedly paid until his 16th communication, in October 1998, 5 months after first raising the issue.

* This 16th communication in October 1998 contained the allegation that I received £30,000 from Mr.

* O'Callaghan in return for blocking tax designation which had been applied for by one of Mr O'Callaghan's rivals.

* Mr Gilmartin's allegation followed questions which he had been asked about the destination of a £30,000 transaction in the accounts of a company, Barkhill, in which Mr Gilmartin and Mr O'Callaghan were involved. The transaction was in June 1992.

* Mr Gilmartin's allegation conveniently explained an otherwise odd transaction.

(ii) The £50,000 allegation

* It was not until communication no. 34 in November 1999 that Mr Gilmartin first alleged that I got an additional £50,000 from Mr O'Callaghan in 1989. Mr Gilmartin said that he had been told this by an unnamed former business partner of Mr O'Callaghan.

* In communication no. 41 in May 2001 Mr Gilmartin changed this allegation. He now said: "I also recall \[Mr O'Callaghan] telling me … that he had given £50,000 to Bertie Ahern in 1989".

* In communication no. 43 in September 2002 Mr Gilmartin alleged that I received a large sum of cash from Mr O'Callaghan after a football match in 1990.

* This changing and unreliable story is essentially the same as the story which was written by Mr Frank Connolly in 2000 and which was proved to be a lie in the Circuit Court. The £50,000 payment was allegedly made in 1989 - 5/6 years before the transactions now under inquiry. The £30,000 payment was first alleged to have been made in 1992 - 2 to 3 years before the payments in my accounts now being looked at by the Mahon Tribunal. I received no such money at any time.

It is as a result of these allegations that I am now the subject of inquiry by the Mahon Tribunal.