Irish PM faces vital test in payments scandal

[muriel_volestrangler]

Irish premier Bertie Ahern will today attempt to rescue himself from the worst personal crisis of his political career as he addresses the Irish parliament over a controversy concerning cash payments.

Mr Ahern is under increasing pressure to admit he made a mistake in accepting £8,000 (€11,800 euro) from Irish businessmen for a speaking engagement at a function at Manchester's Marriott Hotel in September 1994.
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Mr Ahern is due to deliver a statement in the Dail chamber this afternoon.
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The government had already been wobbling over Ahern's tear-filled admission on RTE television earlier last week that around the same time as his ill-fated Manchester trip he had received a loan of IR£38,500 (€50,000) from business friends to help him out with legal and other costs incurred by his marriage breakdown.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1886638,00.html

The latest joke is "Been there; done that; bought the taoiseach"