Taoiseach's article: The following is the text of an article by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, published in yesterday's News Of The World:
This week has been one of the most traumatic periods of my life.
Reliving the heartbreak of my marriage break-up and the circumstances surrounding it has caused me great distress.
Perhaps most distressing was the fact that this past week has not been confined just to myself.
As a politician you get used to taking some harsh criticism - sometimes this criticism can be nasty and even personal. But the last week has been different.
The events that have come into the public arena following an illegal leak have dragged my family and friends to centre stage. I am deeply sorry for the distress they have all suffered.
I have tried throughout my career to separate my private life from my public responsibilities. It is well known that I do not seek nor do I enjoy an extravagant lifestyle.
Politics, sport and serving my community are my only outside interests. I neither have nor crave personal wealth or the trapping of affluence.
Despite all that has been written in the past week, I want everyone to understand one truth above all else.
Never, in all the time I have served in public life, have I taken a bribe or in any way put my personal interest ahead of the public good. I have served this country and the people I have the honour to represent in Dáil Éireann honestly.
I have for many years endured all sorts of false allegations and they have proven to be false.
Perhaps this is part of the price some people expect you to pay for the honour of serving here as Taoiseach and of serving in government.
But I have never dishonoured any office in my responsibility. While I will be the first to admit that I have made mistakes in my life and in my career, one mistake I have never made and never will make is to enrich myself by abusing or misusing the trust of the people.
I have provided more details about my personal finances than any person in this House who has ever held office.
I have shown that I have not abused any office I have held and I have never used public office for personal financial gain. Somebody who has access to confidential documents decided to leak them to a newspaper.
With contempt for the courts and the tribunal process, this person made a sinister calculation. They thought if they could leak this information about me and my family, they could destroy me. They are wrong.
I am not afraid of this leak. In the Dáil and in numerous media interviews I have answered many questions. I will answer more next week.
I am happy to answer them because I have done nothing wrong. In law, in ethics and in relation to tax, I can stand over everything I have done in my 30 years in politics.
It is important to bear in mind that the reason I volunteered all my bank statements and documents, going back many years, was to refute a set of outrageous allegations.
People made secret allegations about me - like I had €15 million stashed away, or that I had bank accounts in exotic places such as the Dutch Antilles and Mauritius. These were lies. In disproving the lies, I provided my details to the tribunal - and now someone has leaked those details in an effort to throw up more material to damage me.
The people who are pushing this story have one objective in mind. They want to drive me from office. They will not succeed.
One thing that people the length and breadth of this country have made clear to me is that they do not want this controversy to distract me from my duties as Taoiseach.
I have been getting calls from people from all walks of life and all political persuasions encouraging me to keep my head up and stick to my job.
I have gone through difficult periods in my professional life before.
During negotiations for the Good Friday agreement, there were extraordinary pressures on all of us involved, but we kept our concentration, we were not distracted and we delivered the goods.
During partnership talks, I have often been called upon to step in at critical points in the negotiations to seal the deal that keeps our national economy on track. I have never failed to do what needed to be done.
When we held the European Presidency, we faced a constant barrage of demands from every direction - and we reached a deal that many thought could not be reached.
All of this goes to show that I will not be deflected from doing my job by the faceless people who deal in leaks and lies.
I know that the Irish people have questions about the things that I have revealed - voluntarily - to the tribunal and to RTÉ. I am answering all those questions.
This week I became the second longest-serving taoiseach in Irish history. This has been overshadowed by the current distressing events.
However, on a positive note, I do want to say that I have been overwhelmed by the huge level of support and encouragement I have received from people across Ireland.
On Tuesday, I look forward to going into the Dáil to make available all the information I have.
I want to put an end to this episode and get back to the job that the Irish people elected me to do - building peace, creating more jobs and delivering progress for all.