Taoiseach insists he is compliant in tax matters

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has said he is, to the best of his knowledge and belief, in compliance with regard to his tax affairs.

"I was - and I am - to the best of my knowledge and belief in compliance with my tax obligations. That is my position. That will, I am confident, be evidenced in due course by the issue of a Tax Clearance Certificate," Mr Ahern said in an interview published in a Sunday newspaper today.

Speaking in another interview on RTÉ's This Weekprogramme, Mr Ahern said he did not feel "in any way damaged" as a result of the issues he has been dealing with at the Mahon tribunal.  However, he admitted that dealing with matters raised at the tribunal and in the media had caused him annoyance.

"I have to deal with the tribunal issues.  If you ask me do I feel happy that I have now been eight years dealing with one allegation [that developer Owen O'Callaghan gave him money] does that make me happy, no it does not.  Does it create stress and tension and annoyance, yes it does.  Mr O'Callaghan never gave me a penny...he never bought me a glass of water," he said.

Mr Ahern said the allegation made by businessman Tom Gilmartin that Mr O'Callaghan gave Mr Ahern sums of money between 1989 and 1992 was not true and the tribunal had made clear last month that such an allegation was not substantiated.

Some of the matters raised at the tribunal was "the stuff that gives juicy and sexy headlines" but had nothing to do with the allegations supposedly being dealt with, Mr Ahern said.  He also said he did not get the same "confidentiality, the same circumstances and the same fair hearing" as other people facing questions from the tribunal.

Mr Ahern said it was a "new low" in Irish life that an individual's private correspondence with the Revenue Commissioners could be leaked to the media.  He said he did not believe the leaks had come from Revenue but from sources that had been circulated with material given to the Mahon tribunal.

The Taoiseach said in the Sunday Independentinterview that details of his tax affairs, no less than those of anyone else whatever their profession, were confidential between himself and the Revenue.

"Those who have been demanding that this long-standing practice and expectation should be set aside because of the position I hold are taking us into uncharted territory and challenging the foundations for confidence in our tax system," he said.

Mr Ahern was defending his position on the taxation issues which may arise from goodwill loans he says he received from friends in Dublin in 1993 and 1994, and an amount of about £8,000 sterling paid to him by a number of business people when he spoke at a dinner in Manchester in 1994.  At that time, he was minister for finance.

He has been questioned about these monies by the Mahon tribunal. Mr Ahern says he did nothing improper in accepting the loans or payments and he believes those matters have nothing to do with the allegations the tribunal is supposed to be examining.

In the interview, Mr Ahern said that like all deputies elected to the Dáil on May 24th last, he is required to furnish either a Tax Clearance Certificate or an Application Statement issued by the Revenue Commissioners.

"As the Commission have noted, these are documents of equal stature," he said.

An Application Statement is issued where the Revenue has not decided whether to issue or to refuse a Tax Clearance Certificate. This arises where an aspect of a tax-payer's affairs is still under discussion.

"A person who provides an Application Statement to the Standards in Public Office Commission is not in breach of the requirements under the Act," Mr Ahern said.

In the newspaper interview, Mr Ahern criticised the the Mahon tribunal, where he has faced questions on his financial affairs in the 1990s.

Mr Ahern said the tribunal is "not beyond question or reproach", not a "sacred cow" and that some of the questioning of him "went beyond the bounds of common decency".

Mr Ahern said some of tribunal counsel Des O'Neill's questioning of on December 20th, was "prying" and "prurient" and had nothing to do with what a planning tribunal should be dealing with.

Mr Ahern said: "If we are saying that people are not allowed to say anything negative about the tribunal, then we are living in an era of the Star Chamber."

"Questions about what friends stayed loyal to me, and which ones to Miriam, at the time of our separation has nothing to do with planning in Dublin. Questions about when I formed a second personal relationship following my separation also have nothing to do with Mr [Tom] Gilmartin's charges," the Taoiseach said.