Lenihan strikes back at Bertie's disloyalty claims
Finance Minister dismisses Ahern's allegations saying 'people get funny ideas about things'
THE PARTY PARTIES:Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan at the Taoiseach's Cairde Fail dinner at the Citywest Hotel on Friday night
Sunday December 06 2009
FINANCE Minister Brian Lenihan has hit back at allegations by Bertie Ahern that he bad-mouthed him behind his back in his final days as Taoiseach.
Amid the controversy surrounding Mr Ahern's claim in a television interview last week that he and Tanaiste Mary Coughlan had been disloyal to him, the finance minister broke his silence to say that the former Taoiseach's "informants" were wrong.
Mr Ahern caused a furore with his remarks in relation to Mr Lenihan and Ms Coughlan, both of whom he accused of being nice to his face while simultaneously talking behind his back. "If I could clarify that in this way: If they [Mr Lenihan and Ms Coughlan] had come in to me and said some of the things I know they were saying behind my back, I could have taken it.
"I know what they were saying. You're not around as leader for 14 years and your intelligence isn't good. So I knew what they were saying," Mr Ahern told TV3's Ursula Halligan in the special one-hour interview, This is . . . Bertie Ahern.
Asked to respond to those claims, at last Friday night's Cairde Fail dinner in Dublin, Mr Lenihan said: "His informants are wrong. I've always had a very good relationship with Bertie Ahern, and I have always been very loyal. I'll be talking to him next week. There's no problem there."
In remarks that will surely rankle with the former Taoiseach, Mr Lenihan added of Mr Ahern: "He has been very dignified in his retirement up till now, but sometimes people get funny ideas about things."
Tanaiste Mary Coughlan, meanwhile, chose to keep her own counsel on the matter when approached for comment, saying simply that her lips were "totally sealed".
Not that it's the first time Ms Coughlan has been coy when asked for her views on the former Taoiseach.
The Donegal TD famously refused to give her support for Mr Ahern in an appearance on RTE's The Week in Politics programme in march 2008, as pressure mounted on the then-Taoiseach in relation to his appearances at the Mahon tribunal.
Asked five times in succession if she believed Mr Ahern's evidence, the then agriculture minister said: "It's not a matter for me to believe or otherwise. What I am saying to you is we are not [at] the finality of this situation. We have to afford any person, if it was you . . . or anybody else, the opportunity within the proper forum to answer and to give one's answer."
Despite the perceived slights from Ms Coughlan and Mr Lenihan -- both of whom he promoted to Cabinet -- Mr Ahern says he has forgiven them. Commenting on their alleged betrayal in his TV3 interview, the former Taoiseach said: "I don't like, people are outside, nice to your face, and talking behind your back.
"Listen, I forgive them all, but if you have something to say to Bertie Ahern, I'd rather people say it to my face."
- Ronald Quinlan
Sunday Independent
