“I can’t recall if I did say it..”

On January 22, 2008, as he returned to Dublin from a trip to South Africa during which he had traded insults with Enda Kenny – and he had accused the Fine Gael leader of telling a “bare-faced lie” – Taoiseach Bertie Ahern told reporters

“The issue here is very simple. In tax law the application certificate and the tax clearance certificate are the same in law. The position taken by the Revenue is that they can’t finalise it until Mahon’s work is finished. I mean, that’s fine by me. I have no difficulty with that, I have no difficulty with the Revenue position,” [Bertie Ahern] said. [added emphasis]

Today, Mr Ahern is reported to have changed his mind..

He told the Dáil during Leaders’ Questions: “It is not correct if I said so. I wasn’t correct. I can’t recall if I did say it. But 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. Revenue said that they were in part of the normal process dealing with these issues.” [added emphasis]