A High Court judgment in favour of former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern’s challenge to aspects of the Mahon tribunal investigations into his affairs will not have any significant impact, the Labour Party said today.
Labour’s Seanad leader, Senator Alex White, said the party always believed Mr Ahern’s challenge was “more about delaying the work of the tribunal than upholding the constitutional right to privilege of members of the Oireachtas”.
Mr Ahern successfully argued that the tribunal was not entitled to examine him on statements he had made in the Dáil, as statements by Oireachtas members are privileged under the constitution.
“At the time the action was initiated we acknowledged that there were serious legal and constitutional issues surrounding the privilege of members of the Oireachtas,” Mr White said.
“A number of the issues raised by Mr Ahern’s legal team were conceded by the Tribunal early in the hearing. The High Court judgment on the outstanding matters will now have to be studied to establish the extent to which the questions relating to privilege have now been further clarified.
“Given that the tribunal has access to its own information and the fact that many of the statements made by the taoiseach in the Dail were also repeated outside, I do not believe that this judgment will have a significant impact on the tribunal’s further inquiries into Mr Ahern’s financial affairs.”