Ahern's quadruple negative

Here’s how Bertie Ahern tried to climb out of the latest hole he has dug for himself (Drivetime, 38th minute).

“For legal and professional reasons neither myself nor my advisors have been in a position to respond to any of the accuracy and completeness of the reports about those issues so it is not correct, if I said so I wasn’t correct, so I, I can’t recall if I did say, but I did not say, if I did say it I didn’t mean to say it that these issues could not be dealt with until the end of the Mahon Tribunal, that is not what Revenue said.”

Eamonn Gilmore described Ahern’s explanation as a quadruple negative.

Irish Independent journalist, Fionan Sheehan said he was in a state of shock at what Ahern was now claiming because just eight days ago he had asked Ahern.

“Is it the position that the Revenue Commissioners have told your advisors that they’ll have to wait for the Mahon Tribunal to report back before finalizing your situation?”

Ahern confirmed that that was the case and reiterated that ‘fact’ several times during the ensuing discussion.

Sheehan said the Taoiseach’s claim was widely reported across the media that evening and the next day and nobody from Government disputed the reports. Now, eight days later, Ahern was saying something completely different.