Newspaper report casts doubt on Ahern's evidence to Tribunal

A report in one of today's papers claims that the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern would have known details on cheques drawn on the Fianna Fáil leader's account by Charles Haughey in the 1980's. According to a report in the Sunday Tribune, Catherine Butler, a former special advisor to Charles Haughey, will give evidence to the Moriarty Tribunal this week which conflicts with previous evidence by Bertie Ahern. He has said that he countersigned blank cheques and so did not know who was being paid or the amounts involved. But the paper claims that Ms Butler is expected to say that the policy during the 1980's was that almost all of Mr Haughey's cheques were filled in before being countersigned by Mr Ahern.