TAOISEACH BERTIE Ahern agreed yesterday he had made mistakes in handling his personal finances while he was minister for finance.
Mr Ahern repeated his call for the scrapping of the 1921 Act providing for tribunals, and refused to be drawn on taking up an EU post if the Lisbon Treaty is passed after he stands down as Taoiseach.
He was responding to questions from political editor Adam Boulton in an interview on Sky News.
Referring to "the business of the payments which passed through your hands, and the hands of your associates", he asked the Taoiseach if he felt he had made mistakes.
Mr Ahern replied: "Yeah, I definitely did. I was separated at the time, and I had bank accounts but they were in the name of my wife and myself. And, obviously, when we separated I wasn't using them. And if you had ever thought that somebody was going to go back over and investigate these things, painstakingly and do it in public session . . . and have 80 people and senior counsel and forensic accountants trawling over them, then you would have kept your bus tickets and your stamps . . . "
He added: "And if you bought a pint or an apple, you would have got a receipt for it. And then you would have kept all these people happy. Unfortunately, I was doing more important things, and you don't cover yourself off . . . And then, of course, these people can come and, you know, they can make fun and games . . . And that's what happens.
"But, you know, you just have to deal with that. That's politics."
Asked why he announced his resignation when he did, Mr Ahern said he had intended staying on until the local and European elections next year.
"We have had these planning tribunals on for 11 years now - as long as I have been Taoiseach. Basically, the allegation I have been dealing with for the last few years . . . is two developers who have been having a row with each other . . . that I had, in some way, received money from them . . .
"Of course, I haven't, I didn't. I have to go through it. The story was just rattling on. So, from my point of view, I just brought forward the issue a year.
"It is better off than creating problems for my party and the Government. I was happy, after 11 years and 19 years at the Cabinet table, to finish up and move on."
Mr Ahern said there had been several tribunals in the Republic.
"I only had an involvement in one of them . . . I have actually no involvement at all . . . it was an allegation made by an individual that another individual had told him that, back in '89, they had given me money. In fact, he never gave me a glass of water, thankfully. "
Asked if there was a solution to investigating matters, other than tribunals, Mr Ahern again said it was his view that the 1921 Act should be abolished.
He had followed a similar inquiry in Britain, and, subject to correction, he thought it had taken about six months.
"We get a row between two developers and it takes us 11 years. My view is to get rid of the 1921 Act. In my view, it is a load of nonsense, and it is a recipe for more nonsense."
Asked about future plans, Mr Ahern said that he had a lot of options.
"Clearly, you don't live for ever. So, having had a long and successful political career . . . I have had a great political innings and nobody can have any regrets about any of that. What I need to do is to work out the next move, which is probably the last move."
Asked if he would be interested in president of the European Council, which is to be established on a long-term basis if the Lisbon Treaty is passed, Mr Ahern said there would be many contenders.
"I am not sure I want it. I am not sure it is available. We have to get the referendum passed before we can even think of that."
