Way cleared for Beverley Flynn to rejoin Fianna Fáil

REBEL READMITTED: FIANNA FÁIL'S national executive last night cleared the way for the readmission of Independent Mayo TD Beverley Flynn to the ranks of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party, and she will thus be able to vote in next week's election for the new party leader.

The decision by the national executive to approve her re-entry has been put off repeatedly by the Fianna Fáil leadership since she settled her long-running legal battle with RTÉ over the costs of her failed libel action against the station last October.

The decision will go to the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party on Tuesday, which will largely be a set of tributes to Bertie Ahern, but the result is a formality.

Last night, Ms Flynn said she was "over the moon" at the decision and "overwhelmed". She said she had not given thought to the leadership change, but that she doubted if there would be a contest.

Her readmission at the instigation of Taoiseach Bertie Ahern on his last occasion attending the meeting of the Fianna Fáil national executive is a clear sign that he wants to leave as united a party as possible behind him.

The legal action between Ms Flynn and RTÉ ended last October when Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne struck out constitutional and bankruptcy proceedings involving the Mayo deputy after she paid €1.2 million of RTÉ's legal fees.

Ms Flynn lost a High Court action against RTÉ, its chief news correspondent Charlie Bird and farmer James Howard.

The case was in relation to claims that she assisted clients of National Irish Bank, for which she had worked, to evade tax.

In total, Ms Flynn amassed a debt of €2.8 million with RTÉ. The station settled for €1.2 million after it had taken bankruptcy proceedings against her.

Last June, the Taoiseach raised expectations about Ms Flynn's future when he speculated that she could become a minister if she settled her debts and returned to Fianna Fáil.

He said she was a "hugely capable and competent person" and might be given a junior ministry in the future.

"She definitely has a very good future as an office holder in the future," Mr Ahern said at the time. When asked if that may be in the lifetime of this Government, he said: "I think that is a fair expectation . . . We would certainly like to see her back in Fianna Fáil."The prospect of so early a return for the daughter of the former European Commissioner, Paádraig Flynn, to the Fianna Faáil parliamentary party caused considerable upset amongst some Mayo party supporters, and elsewhere.

Fianna Fáil's general secretary Seán Dorgan visited Mayo for several meetings with the local party, and her return has since been regarded as an inevitability there.

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times