Grassroots Fianna Fail members were shocked last week when Taoiseach Bertie Ahern unexpectedly indicated that Beverley Flynn would be readmitted to the Fianna Fail party and that he wanted to see her back in the fold as an "office holder".

Flynn was expelled from Fianna Fail in 2004 after the Supreme Court upheld a High Court judgement which found she had facilitated tax evasion while working for National Irish Bank.

The year after her expulsion, the Micheal O Morain Fianna Fail Cumann was disbanded due to its continued support for Flynn; the Johnny Jordan Cumann was set-up to replace it.

Eamon Joyce, secretary of the new cumann, told the Tribune this week, "It was a shock to us all when Bertie made his announcement. There is a time for everything and this certainly was not the right time for this.

"There was no consultation with the party here in Castlebar, but he is leader and that has to be respected. There is a lot of healing to be done and the people who stood loyal to the party need assurances from on high that a healing process will take place."

Denis Gallagher, the Mayo Fianna Fail constituency organiser, agrees that there needs to be a process of consultation between Fianna Fail headquarters and the party's grassroots in Castlebar.

He also cites Flynn's outstanding legal affairs with RTE as an issue that will hinder her re-entry into the party. The proceedings arise from her failure to pay any of the 2.84m in legal costs arising from her unsuccessful libel action against RTE and journalist Charlie Bird.

Gallagher adds: "The Taoiseach did say that her legal affairs with RTE would have to be resolved before she would come back into Fianna Fail. It could be 18 months down the road before the whole RTE issue would be resolved. Until these issues are decided there will not be any moves in relation to her joining the party."

Research carried out by Castlebar based newspaper The Connaught Telegraph last week found that 10 of the 12 Fianna Fail county councillors would welcome Flynn back into the fold.

Jimmy Maloney, one of those councillors, says: "The party needs her in Mayo as she is a top of the range TD and a great constituency worker.

"She did nothing wrong in National Irish Bank as she was only doing what was the bank's policy at the time and if she didn't do that she could have been shown the door.

"When she did bring RTE to court she didn't back down and this has shown what she is made of. When Beverley comes back into the party it will bind the party together again and she will make a good minister in future."

Tom Kelly, political editor of The Connaught Telegraph, has seen Flynn in operation on the local health board, as a county councillor and as a TD, and he believes she is an extremely able politician.

"In an age where politicians' communications skills are becoming more and more important, Beverley fits the bill as she has a good ability to get her point across, " he says.

"During the recent election campaign, the ability of the candidates to perform on local and national radio was very important because it is harder for candidates to canvass every house and get people in.

Beverley performed very well in radio debates and she is a good media operator. She is very cool headed and the fact that she has been involved in so many crises has given her good experience of dealing with pressure.

"I don't think the local Cumann have any choice but to welcome her back in. The party is in crisis in Mayo and they need her back to reorganise the party and provide leadership."

Outside of Fianna Fail, there is a certain fascination with Flynn and about what might happen to her next. "I'd love if Dermot Morgan was still around just to see how he would treat Beverley on Scrap Saturday, " says one Castlebar businessman. "She has an unbelievable Flynn brass neck that she must have got from her father. Having the Flynns in Fianna Fail is like having the KGB in the White House."

Referring to her legal battle with RTE he adds: "We all have to pay our TV licence and if you persist in not paying it you can be jailed. So the ordinary working man can be jailed but there is no chance of Beverley getting jailed if she doesn't pay her money to RTE."

An angry Fianna Fail supporter tells the Sunday Tribune, "It is extraordinary that she was expelled from the party and then gets asked back in without any consultation with the grassroots members."

A party insider, who did not wish to be named, disputes this: "Bev was a Fianna Fail candidate in everything but name in the general election, " he says.

"There was no Fianna Fail candidate from Castlebar so there is a conspiracy theory claiming that the party left the door open for Bev to take the seat. When Bev opened her election offices in Castlebar it was really like a Pee Flynn rally as there were so many Fianna Fail people there.

"She is seen as extremely able, hard working and very good at getting constituency work done for people.

"She is less abrasive than her father and has a better way with people. She is able to deliver and is the best minister Mayo never had."

Flynn found herself caught up in more controversy on Friday when it was reported that her millionaire partner Tony Gaughan built a holiday home using planning permission obtained by a local woman living in a council house.

Gaughan, a builder and property tycoon, was able to use the planning permission which had been obtained by the daughter of the landowner in Doohoma, Co Mayo to build an idyllic holiday home after he bought the site in 1997.

The local reaction couldn't be more indifferent.

"This is the sort of issue that will have no effect on Beverley's popularity in Mayo. It will just be seen as a witch hunt against her, " says Michael Duffy, chief news reporter with the Mayo News. The message is clear:

though her vote did fall in the recent election, it will take more than a stray news story to bring Beverley Flynn down.

Controversy stalks them. . . .

Martin Ferris
A Sinn Fein TD for Kerry North since 2002, Ferris served 10 years in prison for his involvement in an attempt to import arms from the US for the IRA in September 1984 aboard the fishing boats Valhalla and Marita Ann.

Ferris was convicted for the possession of explosive substances for unlawful purpose and for possession of firearms and ammunition with intent to endanger life.

Bertie Ahern Caught up in the Bertiegate scandal since September last year.

He took loans totalling IR�39,000 ( 50,000) from friends in Ireland and �8,000 ( 11,800) as a gift from businessmen in Manchester in 1993 and 1994. Recently the tribunal has been told about unusual foreign currency transactions involving sterling and dollar amounts held by Ahern and his former partner Celia Larkin.

Michael Lowry
Michael Lowry is to Thurles what Beverley Flynn is to Castlebar . . . a competent TD who has had his fair share of controversy.

Most memorably, it was revealed at the McCracken Tribunal that retail tycoon Ben Dunne paid IR�395,000 for an extension to Lowry's home in Tipperary.

This allegation prompted his resignation from Cabinet in November 1996.

Jim McDaid
The Donegal North East TD was arrested in April 2005 when found driving drunk in the wrong direction on a dual carriageway outside Dublin after attending a race meeting.

Oncoming vehicles were forced to swerve to avoid his car and he was found to be more than three times over the legal limit, convicted of dangerous and drunk driving and banned from driving for two years.

Mattie McGrath
Newly-elected Fianna Fail TD for Tipperary South, Mattie McGrath is to face trial on charges of assaulting two men in Co Tipperary.

He appeared at Clonmel District Court recently charged with assault causing harm to two men and using or threatening to use unlawful violence during a late-night incident last August in his home village of Newcastle, near Clonmel.