Clifford Michael - Bertie Ahern And The Drumcondra Mafia

Michael Clifford is a journalist with the Sunday Tribune where he writes a weekly column. He regularly contributes to a variety of programmes on Irish radio and TV. He is author of Love You to Death: Irelands Wife Killers Revealed.

Shane Coleman is the Political Editor of the Sunday Tribune and is a regular analyst of Irish politics on television and radio. He is the best-selling author of Foot in Mouth: Famous Irish Political Gaffes and Up the Poll: Great Irish Election Stories.

BERTIE AHERN

AND THE DRUMCONDRA MAFIA

Michael Clifford & Shane Coleman

First published in 2009 by Hachette Books Ireland

Copyright 2009 Michael Clifford and Shane Coleman

The right of Michael Clifford and Shane Coleman to be identified as the Authors of the Work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

The publishers would like to thank Mark Condren/ Sunday Tribune, Photocall, Press Association, RT Stills Library and Collins Agency for permission to reproduce photographs within this book, and the Irish Times for permission to reproduce text on pages 357-8.

ISBN 978 1444 72575 9

Hachette Books Ireland
8 Castlecourt Centre
Castleknock
Dublin 15, Ireland
A division of Hachette UK Ltd
338 Euston Road, London NW1 3BH

www.hbgi.ie

Contents

A wide range of people cooperated with the authors in researching this book through interviews and the provision of documentary information. In nearly every case, the cooperation was on the basis that the individuals concerned would remain anonymous.

The authors would like to acknowledge the contributions of these people and thank them. They know who they are. Without their help the book wouldnt have been possible.

They also wish to acknowledge the staff at the Planning Tribunal. The Tribunal transcript was of great assistance.

That day, neighbours wouldnt have paid much attention to the ministerial Mercedes. It was 27 March 2008, and the car carrying Brian Cowen pulled into the driveway of 44 Beresford Avenue in Drumcondra, home of Taoiseach Bertie Ahern. Ministerial Mercs were no big deal in Beresford, an estate of comfortable houses off Griffith Avenue, on the northside of the city. Everybody knew Bertie. His car was a familiar sight there. However, closer inspection on the day in question would have revealed that this wasnt Bertie returning home, but a highly unusual house call by his most senior minister.

Cabinet members were routinely summoned on government work to Aherns constituency office in St Lukes, down in the heart of Drumcondra. This particular visit was to his home, far from any prying eyes that might be staking out St Lukes. And Cowen wasnt responding to a summons to deal with a problem. He had come of his own volition, and the problem at hand was Ahern himself.

The Tnaiste and Minister for Finance had returned the day before from Malaysia and Vietnam, combining ministerial duties for St Patricks Day with meeting his family for a short holiday in Vietnam. His sojourn in South-East Asia had been punctuated by urgent phone calls from home. Party colleagues had been in touch about the evidence emerging from the Mahon Tribunal in relation to their leaders finances.

Aherns personal secretary, Grainne Carruth, had endured a torrid time in the witness box. After she had been presented with relevant banking records, she was forced to admit that she must have deposited sterling amounts on behalf of Ahern. This was a direct and irrefutable contradiction of his evidence.

Public perception of Aherns finances had taken a nosedive. Carruth had been a modestly paid employee, who appeared to have been left swinging in the wind by her former boss. The sterling revelations were causing enormous unease and tension in the Fianna Fil parliamentary party.

For some time it had been obvious that Aherns tenure as Taoiseach was coming to an end. He had stated that he wouldnt lead Fianna Fil into the next general election, which would fall in 2012 if the Dil ran its full term. Most commentators were of the opinion that he might go after the European elections in 2009, but the previous November the Sunday Tribune had run a front-page story citing informed sources who declared that the widespread view among government TDs was that Christmas 2007 would be Aherns last in office. Now things were moving faster than anybody had anticipated. In the wake of Carruths evidence, it was clear that unless Ahern could provide a logical explanation for the sterling deposits, his position was immediately untenable.

Brian Cowen was the heir apparent. Ahern had anointed him as his preferred successor after the 2007 election. His popularity within the party was unmatched. However, loyalty is one of Cowens predominant personality traits. For months he had resisted the strong urgings of some supporters to make a move against Ahern. Given his status as leader in waiting, any such move would have been decisive. That wasnt Cowens way. He believed strongly in backing the leader through thick and thin.

Carruths evidence had clearly changed everything. It wasnt just about Ahern any more. It was about Fianna Fil and, perhaps more importantly in Cowens mind, the upcoming Lisbon referendum. Party TDs had held the line in support of their leader, but behind the scenes, cracks in this united front were appearing as the tribunals revelations mounted.

Informed sources have confirmed to the authors of this book that one junior minister was planning to resign on the grounds that they could no longer serve under Ahern, given what had emerged. If this had happened, there would have been a likely domino effect. The result would have been an unseemly and demoralising end to a leadership that had brought three consecutive election victories.

It was against this backdrop that the meeting between Cowen and Ahern took place at Beresford Avenue. The venue was ironically appropriate. One of the issues being examined at the tribunal was Aherns purchase of his home. He had bought the residence from a friend, Michal Wall, in unorthodox circumstances that had given rise to a number of questions.

The exact details of what was discussed between Cowen and Ahern is known only to them. We do know the Mahon Tribunal wasnt the only subject they covered. They talked about the not insignificant chaos on the world financial markets. In relation to Mahon, Cowen has said the two men discussed things generally and that he was supportive of my Taoiseach.

That is likely to be accurate. However, nobody at a senior level of Fianna Fil is in any doubt that the conversation went beyond that. Cowen would have pointed out that if Ahern remained as Taoiseach, his personal finances would be a central feature of the campaign. If that campaign was lost, Ahern would be forced to resign going out on a distinctly sour note. However, if Ahern opted to go of his own volition, he would no longer be a target. The media circus surrounding the Mahon Tribunal would largely evaporate. It would not be an issue in the Lisbon referendum. Ahern had been invited to address the joint Houses of Congress in Washington. That would be a fitting end to the tenure of the states second longest-serving Taoiseach.

At the end of their meeting the two men shook hands. Ahern closed the door and Cowen got back into his ministerial car. The tenor, rather than the specific dialogue, of their conversation dictated exactly what would happen next. As Cowen was driven away, he brought with him the balance of power within the party. It would take a few weeks to formalise but Aherns career at the top of Irish politics had just ended.