Reaction:Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has defended his role in writing blank cheques for the late Charles Haughey saying that it was "common practice" at the time and he would not have done it if he knew the funds were improperly used.
It was "regrettable" that some of the cheques he signed were used inappropriately but, Mr Ahern said, he had brought in legislation to ensure it would never happen again.
Mr Ahern's predecessor as Fianna Fáil leader, Albert Reynolds, also said yesterday that he had taken steps to introduce greater transparency to the operation of the party leader's account.
The Moriarty tribunal report criticised Mr Ahern for "inappropriate and imprudent" action in signing blank cheques for Mr Haughey from the Fianna Fáil leader's allowance during the 1980s when Mr Ahern was a TD and a co-signatory to the account.
The tribunal report said considerable sums of money from the Fianna Fáil leader's allowance account went into a personal bank account in Mr Haughey's control.
The allowance was also used to fund his personal bill-payment service and to pay personal expenses with Le Coq Hardi restaurant in Dublin and Parisian shirt making firm Charvet, the report concluded.
Mr Ahern said yesterday it was an "awful tragedy" and "entirely wrong and entirely inappropriate" that the leader's allowance had been used in this way.
He said he had not known at the time that funds were being misappropriated by Mr Haughey and added that Mr Haughey's actions were a "huge discredit to the man".
But Mr Ahern said he had brought in greater transparency as to how the account was used and had brought in new controls over the party leader's allowance.
"I brought in the legislation that would decide how the party leader's allowance was used, how it would be open for it to be used," he said, pointing out he had taken these measures long before the publication of the Moriarty report.
Further legislation had been brought in in 2001 and the Public Offices Commission established, he pointed out. "We didn't wait for the conclusions of Justice Moriarty's report but I welcome them and thank him."
Mr Reynolds, who took over as Fianna Fáil leader from Mr Haughey in 1992, told The Irish Times last night that when he became leader he changed the system and handed over "responsibility and control" of the leader's account to Fianna Fáil headquarters.
Mr Reynolds said he was surprised to discover that the party leader's allowance account was run from the leader's office and was not audited by headquarters in Mount Street and had discussions with the then general secretary Pat Farrell and financial controller SeáFleming, now a Fianna Fáil TD for Laois-Offaly.
"I couldn't understand why the party leader's account wasn't audited by headquarters," Mr Reynolds said last night.
"I discussed the situation with Pat Farrell and Seán Fleming and all the books were handed over to them. I told them to pick up the books and they were given everything at the time.
"I didn't have to be told by anyone that the system needed to be changed. I had been in business and I knew what good business practices were and how a company should be run."
A Fianna Fáil spokeswoman said last night that Mr Reynolds had changed the way the party leader's account was operated in 1992, but Mr Ahern had made further changes with the introduction of legislation in 2001.
Mr Ahern said yesterday the "vast majority" of cheques he signed were used for "appropriate purposes". It was "regrettable" that "a smaller group of them weren't".
The tribunal report said Mr Ahern "had no reason to believe the account was operated otherwise than for a proper purpose."
