Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has launched his strongest attack to date on the Mahon tribunal, alleging it has not given him a fair hearing during its investigations into his private finances.
His criticisms, outlined in newspaper and broadcast interviews at the weekend, come just weeks before Mr Ahern must return to the tribunal for a further appearance.
He said the tribunal had failed to act to stop the persistent disclosure of his private documentation by some of those to whom the documents were circulated, including the most recent release of confidential correspondence between Mr Ahern's accountants and the Revenue Commissioners.
Following a Supreme Court ruling, in a case taken by Cork property developer Owen O'Callaghan, the tribunal has been required to circulate papers to anyone who can be affected by their contents.
Mr Ahern said his lawyers' protests about the wide circulation of papers concerning him had been ignored by the tribunal chairman, Judge Alan Mahon, who, he claimed, rarely found in favour of him.
"They are ignored. The letters are sent out to people who have no interest in getting the letters. The tribunal probably say that they have to do that because of legal judgements - I understand that.
"But the fact is that I do not get the same confidentiality, the same fair hearing, and the same circumstances in a tribunal as anyone else. So it is not an equal playing pitch.
"Nobody else in the country would have their Revenue records flouted. There is nobody else who would have bank statements sent to hundreds of people. I think it highly unfair, I think it is unjust. I don't know what law it is governed by," he told the RTÉ radio programme This Week.
Mr Ahern also defended his handling of his tax affairs, in a statement issued yesterday afternoon. He said it would be inappropriate for him to discuss the details "with anybody other than the Revenue Commissioners". But he said he was in a position to answer any questions raised by the Revenue.
It is now clear that Mr Ahern will not be able to supply a tax-clearance certificate to the Standards in Public Office Commission next month; but he will produce a statement of application that will acknowledge that he is in discussions with the Revenue about his affairs.
Under the ethics legislation, elected Oireachtas members are required within nine months of election to furnish a tax-clearance certificate, or a statement acknowledging that issues remain to be resolved.
In his RTÉ interview Mr Ahern said he had made a lodgment, which is believed to be of the order of €70,000, with the Revenue. "That is what I was advised I should do. I paid the money on account, as is the normal practice. I hope that they still might owe me money. My advisers certainly think so. Revenue may have a different view to that. That is their prerogative," he said.
In an interview with the Sunday Independent, Mr Ahern claimed that tribunal counsel Des O'Neill had adopted a "prurient and prying" interest in his sleeping arrangements during his time living in his St Luke's, Drumcondra, office.
Mr Ahern's criticisms come in the wake of attacks on the tribunal by a number of Cabinet ministers.
Fine Gael Senator Eugene Regan said Mr Ahern had failed to explain "why he misled" the public and Dáil about his tax affairs in 2006, and and had refused opportunities last September to correct any mistakes that had been made.
"The Taoiseach does not explain how a donation given for his party by NCB ended up in his own bank account. The Taoiseach does not explain why 15 months after the Revenue initiated contact with him about tax liabilities, he still does not have a tax-clearance certificate," he said.
Fine Gael is likely to put down a Dáil motion declaring its full confidence in the tribunal when the Dáil resumes, but Mr Ahern will easily avoid the embarrassment of having to vote confidence in a tribunal that he has so sharply criticised because the Government will put down a counter-motion.
