Fine Gael is giving "active consideration" to lodging a complaint against the Taoiseach with the Standards in Public Office Commission (Sipo) in relation to his tax affairs, a spokesman said last night.
In a brief comment, a spokesman for Bertie Ahern said: "The Taoiseach's dealings with Sipo and the Revenue are of a confidential nature and will remain so. He will co-operate with any query from any regulatory authority, including Sipo, as he did in the past."
Ethics legislation requires that TDs and Senators must lodge tax-clearance certificates with Sipo within nine months of a general election. Fine Gael is querying whether, in the light of the alleged "dig-outs" of the early 1990s, the certificate lodged by Mr Ahern at the time of the 2002 election was "improperly obtained".
Senator Eugene Regan, the party's justice spokesman in the Seanad, told The Irish Times: "The matter of a complaint to Sipo is under active consideration by Fine Gael in relation to the tax compliance certificate obtained by the Taoiseach at the time of the 2002 election, as to whether it was improperly obtained by reason of non- disclosure of the 1994-'95 payments currently under examination by the Mahon tribunal."
In the event that Fine Gael proceeds with its complaint, Sipo would have to consider the matter under Section 4 of the Standards in Public Office Act 2001 and decide whether an investigation was warranted.
Any individual can make a complaint to Sipo but complaints cannot be made anonymously.
Sipo previously considered complaints from "two members of the public", believed to have Fine Gael associations, about the Taoiseach's acceptance of loans or gifts from groups of businessmen in the early 1990s. In a statement issued on September 19th, Sipo said it had "decided that there is no basis on which to initiate an investigation under the Ethics in Public Office Acts 1995 and 2001".
But the issue has been given fresh impetus by reports of correspondence between Mr Ahern and the Revenue Commissioners about his tax affairs in the context of the so-called "Manchester whip-around" and the Dublin "dig-outs".
Members of the Oireachtas are required to furnish Sipo with either a tax clearance certificate or an "application statement" within a period of nine months before or after a general election. They must also lodge a statutory declaration that, to the best of their knowledge, their tax affairs are in order. Tax clearance certificates are issued by the Collector-General but if, for whatever reason, he is not in a position to issue such a certificate, or has refused to do so and the refusal is the subject of an appeal, then the Oireachtas member can request an "application statement".
In such a statement, the Collector-General declares that the Oireachtas member has applied for a tax-clearance certificate but a decision has not been made on the matter. In the event that a certificate is ultimately refused, the Collector-General must notify Sipo which, in turn, draws up a report for the Committee on Members' Interests of the Dáil or Seanad, whichever is appropriate. The committee has the authority to disclose this report publicly by laying it before the Oireachtas and it can also recommend sanctions such as suspension or withholding of salary. Where the TD or senator is also an office-holder, Sipo can launch its own investigation.
Sipo can also refer a complaint to the Director of Public Prosecutions. Former Fianna Fáil TD for West Limerick Michael Collins was the first TD to be prosecuted. He was convicted last September of obtaining a tax clearance certificate by false pretences in May 2002 and given a 12-month suspended jail sentence and a fine of €25,000.
Meanwhile, former Green Party MEP Patricia McKenna last night said that the Taoiseach should resign as a result of the controversies surrounding his personal finances.
"I believe that he should go. However, I do not think it is up to the Green Party to bring the Government down. It is up to Fianna Fáil to remove Bertie Ahern," she said.
"At the same time, I believe that the Green Ministers [party leader John Gormley and Eamon Ryan] should say something. I believe that they will say something [critical of Mr Ahern]."
Earlier Ms McKenna told Newstalk's Lunchtime programme that there was an onus on both Green Ministers to challenge Mr Ahern on his personal finances.
The Minister for State in charge of drugs strategy, Pat Carey, told the same programme that the tribunal was the appropriate forum to test any evidence in relation to Mr Ahern's dealings with the Revenue Commissioners. "I understand that he is in constant engagement with the Revenue Commissioners and I have no doubt, like every other public pepresentative who is anxious to be tax compliant, the Taoiseach will also come to an agreement on his tax compliance with the Revenue Commissioner," he said.