Taoiseach Bertie Ahern today told the Mahon tribunal that the withdrawal of £50,000 in cash in January 1995 was "no big deal" in the circumstances he found himself in at the time.
The tribunal was told the £50,000 was lodged to an account in the name of Mr Ahern's former partner Celia Larkin in December 1994 and was withdrawn and given back to him in cash the following month.
On the third day of his evidence to the tribunal, Mr Ahern told the tribunal the money was then kept in cash by him in his safe at his constituency office, St Luke's, in Drumcondra.
Counsel for the tribunal Des O'Neill SC on his way into Dublin Castle this morning. Photo: Irish Times.
Mr Ahern said the £50,000 was to be used by Ms Larkin to pay for expenditure on a house at Beresford Avenue in Drumcondra that he intended to rent from businessman Michael Wall.
Mr Ahern said he had lodged £50,000 and withdrawn £50,000. He said he had bought sterling with some of it and used some sterling and some Irish money to pay outstanding bills relating to the Beresford house.
He said it was just after Fianna Fáil had been "chucked out of government, very unceremoniously" in December of 1994.
The urgency for him to find a house had changed, given that he had not been elected taoiseach as expected in that pre-Christmas period, he said today. He found himself as leader of the Opposition and was travelling around the country to rebuild the party, he said.
He had clocked up 20,000 or 30,000 miles visiting every county, every area, every community and every parish and holding rallies, he said. He would have been "up and at it", he told the tribunal.
Asked by Des O'Neill for the tribunal why he decided to withdraw the £50,000 in cash, Mr Ahern said he could not recall what was in his mind on January 19th, 1995.
He had just come back from a week in Spain after Fianna Fáil had failed to form a government in December, and he was thrown into dealing with the aftermath of that, he said.
The Taoiseach said he believed what was probably in his mind was that he was just about to give that money back to Mr Wall in circumstances where he had changed his mind about going ahead with the arrangement to rent the house at Beresford Avenue.
Mr Ahern said he had originally proceeded with the agreement with Mr Wall in circumstances where he had not had his own home for a number of years and had stayed either at the apartment in his constituency office, at his family home or with friends.
The urgency with which he needed to find a house changed after December because he had not been elected taoiseach, he said.
"I can't remember on the morning of January 19th, 1995, why I decided to take out all of the £50,000 in cash. I can't remember," he said.
Asked by Mr O'Neill about his "behaviour" in taking out the cash, Mr Ahern said: "You said my behaviour. I hope there's nothing wrong with taking your money out of your own account."
He said he hoped Tom Gilmartin was going to "get the same grilling on these items as I am", drawing applause from the public gallery in Dublin Castle.
Chairman Alan Mahon said the only purpose of the questioning was to establish the facts relating to the withdrawal. There was no suggestion that a person who had £50,000 was not entitled to withdraw it. "That's completely irrelevant," Mr Mahon said.
Mr Ahern several times insisted under questioning that he had not "implemented" his change of mind on the Beresford property and had decided to go ahead with it after Mr Wall had a serious crash.
"I don't think it's of any great relevance. I felt fairly duty bound [to Mr Wall]," he said.
For that reason, he had proceeded with the original arrangement to rent the Beresford property from Mr Wall and he did not feel it was necessary to inform Mr Wall that he had changed his mind.
"There's no reason why I would have said to him 'I'm out of this until I have an alternative'," Mr Ahern said. He had looked at "six or seven" other houses at around that time but eventually decided to proceed with the original arrangement with Mr Wall.
He said Mr Wall was going to buy a house in Dublin anyway and it was not conditional upon him, Mr Ahern, being a tenant in that house. "I didn't implement the decision not to go ahead." He had honoured the agreement, probably because he felt he had to, he said.
Mr Ahern has now concluded his evidence for the day. He is expected back to appear back in Dublin Castle next week.