BERTIE AHERN’S former partner Celia Larkin has broken her silence about the Mahon Tribunal report in a piece published by the Sunday Independent.
Though describing Ahern as at times being vague, evasive, belligerent ”and sometimes downright rude”, she writes that “corruption is not something I ever thought him guilty of”.
She said that the Tribunal’s requests for documentation and evidence was “more like someone trying to catch you out than gather information”.
However, she did not address the Tribunal’s report regarding a number of lodgments made to Larkin’s accounts and of which the Tribunal said Ahern had failed to identify the true source. On one occasion, the report says, a briefcase of cash was left at St Luke’s for Larkin to lodge.
Larkin says that being called as a witness to the Mahon Tribunal resurrected old emotions her from relationship with Ahern, partly because the hearings were held in Dublin Castle where she and Ahern had attended many official functions together.
The Tribunal’s refusal to accept evidence provided by Ahern has left her “desolate”, she says, writing: “It is a sad way to close the door on a relationship that ended almost 10 years ago”.
In a separate piece for the Sunday Independent this morning, Ahern said he would be tendering his resignation from the Fianna Fáil party in order not to split the membership in a vote on his expulsion which is due on Friday.
The former party leader said his resignation should not be interpreted as an admission of wrongdoing with regard to the Tribunal report.
Remarking on the Tribunal report, Ahern said he “can’t allow this blemish” on his character to go unanswered.
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