J&H Burke & Son Builders, the company owned by Joe Burke, has a deficiency of assets over creditors of between €1.6 and €2 million, according to statements of affairs prepared by the company's two directors.

The largest single creditor is Mr Burke, who is owed €418,000, according to the statements.

Mr Burke is a friend and associate of the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern. He is one of the trustees of the Fianna Fáil constituency building, St Luke's, in Drumcondra, Dublin, and was one of the people who gave money to Mr Ahern in 1993/1994.

Mr Burke was appointed chairman of the Dublin Port Authority in 2002 and becomes due for reappointment or replacement on Tuesday of next week.

A spokeswoman for the Minister for Transport, Martin Cullen, said no decision had been made as yet on the issue. She added that appointments would be made to a number of port boards shortly.

The liquidation of Mr Burke's company was raised before Ms Justice Mary Finlay Geoghegan in the High Court earlier this week, and adjourned for a year. The liquidation is being conducted by Ken Fennell of Kavanagh Fennell.

Statements of affairs for December 14th, 2006, the date of the winding-up of the company, have been drafted by Mr Burke and his fellow director, Brendan O'Reilly.

Mr Burke's wife, Helen Burke, resigned as a director of the company in June of last year. The latest accounts filed in the Companies Registration Office are for the year to end August 2003.

Mr O'Reilly's statement of affairs differs from that of Mr Burke's in that it includes a number of entities on its list of unsecured creditors that are not contained in Mr Burke's list. It is normal at an early stage in liquidations to have differences over the amounts due to creditors.

Mr O'Reilly's statement shows an estimated deficiency of €2 million while that of Mr Burke shows an estimated deficiency of €1.66 million.

The statements show that the company's sole assets are work in progress, valued at €279,000, and "lorries and motor vehicles" at €73,636.

The preferential creditors are the Revenue, at €276,872, and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, at €60,748.

The Revenue amount comprises PAYE/PRSI of €83,016, VAT of €42,183, and Relevant Contracts Tax of €151,672. This tax arises when a contractor engages a subcontractor.

The Department of Enterprise figure is money due back to the department for payments by it to staff of minimum notice and redundancy amounts.

The excess of assets over preferential creditors is €15,000. The unsecured creditors total €1.68 million, according to Mr Burke's statement.

Mr O'Reilly's statement's list of unsecured creditors totals €2 million.

Mr O'Reilly's statement breaks down the work in progress figures (€279,000) into four items: Na Fianna GAA club, Glasnevin, Dublin; St Columba's, Rathfarnham; Jacobs Inn, Store St, Dublin; and Jackson Court, Harcourt St, Dublin.

The company specialised in pub renovations.

The larger creditors on the lists of unsecured creditors are: Barnmore Demolition (€217,730); Alucraft Ltd (€118,983); Highfield Painting Contractors (€86,226); O'Neill & Brennan Construction (€102,013); Reade Engineering Services (€70,000); and Reid Roofing Ltd (€132,899).

Entities on Mr O'Reilly's list and which did not appear on Mr Burke's include: Irish Ventilation & Filtration (€44,642) and JV Hutton Ltd (€63,697).

SGB Scafform is listed by Mr O'Reilly as being owed €66,209 and Scafform as being owed €5,879.

Scafform has been mentioned in a module of the Mahon (formerly Flood) tribunal in relation to lands at Cloghran, Co Dublin.

John Butler, of Scafform, was one of three men who had an interest in the lands and was introduced by Tim Collins of Ambrose Kelly architects to Frank Dunlop, the tribunal heard.

Mr Dunlop worked to have the lands rezoned and they were sold for a sixfold profit.