Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has indicated that his forthcoming statement on his financial affairs will focus on issues surrounding his house and will not go into other areas of his personal finances. Mark Hennessy and Miriam Donohoe report.
"I'm not doing a statement on personal finances. I'm doing a statement on questions that were raised. I don't think I'm being questioned about personal finances.
"I earn my salary like anyone else . . . but there's questions about my house which I don't think have anything to do really with what the tribunal is about. It's a curiosity point for people to talk about," he said in an RTÉ radio interview.
When asked if he would deliver his statement before or after his Westminster address next week, Mr Ahern said: "I will do it somewhere during the campaign."
On RTÉ's Drivetime, Mr Ahern admitted he has become irritated at some stages of the campaign when asked repeated questions about personal financial issues by journalists "not from this country".
He said: "I have always been totally open to the Irish media . . . I know most of them on first-name terms . . . Everyone has a job and I understand their job . . . when you get some whippersnapper that I have never seen in my life shouting abuse almost at you I probably do get irritated but I keep the cool. Lucky for them it's not 20 years ago."
Beginning in Claremorris, Co Mayo, in the early morning yesterday, Mr Ahern travelled to Portumna, Co Galway, and on to Castlerea, before heading on by helicopter to Limerick later in the day.
When he was asked in Limerick about Fianna Fáil's refusal to enter a government with Sinn Féin, Mr Ahern said: "There isn't much point in putting together a government that you know would be inherently unstable. That would be dishonest. Whatever happens in the future, the policies of Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil are diametrically opposed."
Everywhere Mr Ahern travelled yesterday, small knots of party supporters gathered to meet him.
In the Jetland shopping centre in Limerick, where dozens of Fianna Fáil members had gathered to greet him, Mr Ahern was confronted by solicitor John Devane, who is running in the general election as an Independent.
Demanding that Mr Ahern "tell the truth about his personal finances", Mr Devane, who claims to have contracted MRSA during hospital treatment, repeatedly called Mr Ahern "a liar".
With a fixed smile, the Taoiseach moved on. Seconds before he had arrived, gardaí had seized a plastic sword from Mr Devane, which he had bought for €5 from a local shop because he "wanted Mr Ahern to fall on it".
Clearly embarrassed and annoyed, some younger Fianna Fáil supporters sought to block Mr Devane's access to Mr Ahern, as the latter canvassed early-evening shoppers. When efforts to block off Mr Devane became a little too enthusiastic, wiser heads called on them to back off lest bad television images get even worse.
When it did get going, however, the canvass reception inside Dunnes Stores was warm, although few made a beeline for Mr Ahern as they once did.
In the last election, Mr Ahern's motorcade made headlines after it was accused of breaking the speed limit during forays around Wexford.
Yesterday, it went one better - with the co-operation of An Garda Síochána - as it made its way from Jetland to the Crescent shopping centre on the other side of town. Evening traffic had gridlocked the road. Faced with the blockage, the Garda motorcyclists went on to the other side of the road and pushed vehicles to one side.
The motorcade progressed.