Sunday, September 16, 2007

Ireland-Mahon Tribunal Sunday Newspaper Coverage

Interesting to note variations in newspaper coverage of Bertie Aherne's appearance at the Mahon Tribunal.
The Sunday Independent as befits a staunch FF paper takes a strong pro Bertie line.
The front page headline is "All-out war:Ahern takes on Tribunal." Willie O 'Dea has an article strongly supporting the Taoiseach under the heading "There isn't a scintilla of evidence to suggest Ahern did any wrong." Brendan O Connor's article is titled "How dare they treat our elected Taoiseach in this outrageous way". Jody Corcoran's article appears under the heading " The rattle of a simple , lonely separated man". The editorial is headed "Ahern cash trail may be troubling but not corrupt" . John Drennan in the article "Murder at the tribunal as Bertie's sums don't add up" hedges his bets. Ronald Quinlan has "Bertie's achievements will count for nought if he goes down as the last FF flawed hero" and is largely sympathetic.
Interesting to see a nonsensical article on FG from John Drennan where he vents his usual anti FG spleen. We can expect more of the same from John.
Gene Kerrigan in his Soapbox adopts a different tone from other Sunday Independent contributors.


The Sunday Tribune is more critical. The front page heading to an article by Mick Clifford is "The Incredibles".The sub heading is "Larkin, Ahern, Wall claim victim status but fail to follow the money". Inside in an article by Mick Clifford the heading is "Bertie, Man of the people vs Bertie, the €1/2 m in cash man" In Kevin Rafter's Inside Politics the caption is "Hit the road Bertie-politics is better off without you". The editorial is headed "Once more the victim, Ahern explains nothing".

The Sunday Times -in a front page article by Stephen O Brien - carries the following heading " Ahern may face a huge bill for costs". Inside there is a two page spread by Stephen O Brien captioned "Just follow the money". Matt Cooper's article has "You try excusing the muddle of Bertie's finances to a foreigner.."

In the Sunday Business Post Pat Leahy has "Tide is turning for Ahern" and concludes with "from now on it' s just a matter of how quickly the tide goes out for him [Bertie]" and Ian Kehoe has "Broadside raises more questions than answers" ." Last Thursday morning , the Taoiseach made a 15-minute statement of robust intent. But the discrepancies it contained may be his undoing". Vincent Browne leads with "Ahern's numbers game just doesn't add up".

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