The Taoiseach came under pressure last night to explain whether he sanctioned talks in the early 1990s between the National Lottery and a consortium headed by a Manchester businessman which was hoping to open a casino in Dublin.
The Mahon tribunal heard last week that the Manchester businessman, Norman Turner, gave $10,000 in cash to Fianna Fáil fundraiser Des Richardson, who later organised the "dig-out" payments for Mr Ahern.
Mr Ahern was a guest of Mr Turner at Manchester United matches at Old Trafford on a number of occasions during the same period.
Labour finance spokeswoman Joan Burton has called on the Taoiseach and the National Lottery to clarify whether there was a secret arrangement between the Lottery and the Ogden/Sonas casino project headed by Mr Turner.
A spokesman for the Taoiseach said Mr Ahern did not comment on media claims but added that he had fully co-operated with the tribunal in its investigations.
A spokeswoman for the National Lottery refused to make any comment on the casino claim.
It is understood that the tribunal has not been in touch to date with either the Taoiseach or the National Lottery about the issue.
Any talks between the National Lottery and a business consortium about a casino project in the early 1990s would have required the approval of the Department of Finance.
Ms Burton said that the public would be shocked if it emerged that the National Lottery, which was set up primarily to provide funding for social, cultural and sporting activities, was involved with the casino project.
"The claim that the Taoiseach, as minister for finance, approved the secret involvement of the National Lottery in a bid to establish a slot machine casino in Dublin in the early 1990s, is one of the most serious allegations against Mr Ahern to have emerged to date," she said.
Ms Burton added that there was huge local opposition to the Phoenix Park casino project, not just on planning grounds, but also because the public were concerned about the potentially damaging influence on Irish society of a slot-machine culture.
"This was a major project, with potentially vast profits to be made, and enormous pressure was exerted on public representatives at national and local level to support it," she said.
