Mr Charles Haughey told the Moriarty tribunal that he had "forgotten" about a debt of £110,000 which he owed to AIB. The debt remained after the late Mr Des Traynor had organised the repayment of £750,000 owed to the bank by Mr Haughey.
"They [AIB] never came to me . . . they never mentioned it since and, quite frankly, I'd forgotten about it", Mr Haughey said.
Asked if he had since repaid the debt, Mr Haughey replied: "No."
The tribunal saw a letter from AIB to Mr Haughey, written on January 24th, 1980, outlining the proposals for his debt settlement. The debit balance was agreed at £860,000.17 and was to be permanently reduced to £110,000 by mid-February, 1980.
The letter stated that the remaining balance of £110,000 should be cleared "within a reasonable period of time". The deeds of Inishvickillane, the deeds of a house and lands in Sligo and a £1,000 life policy were held as security for this debt.
Mr John Coughlan SC, for the tribunal, pointed out that AIB decided not to charge interest on the remaining debt and to look on it as a "matter of honour".
"It was considered a debt of honour and I think that what was expected was that you, as a man of honour, would honour that debt of honour within a reasonable period of time", Mr Coughlan said. "Bearing in mind the position of honour you held, do you have any reason as to why you didn't honour this debt?"
"The debt is still there", Mr Haughey said. "I haven't dishonoured it. The fact is, Mr Coughlan, the bank never came to me seeking repayment of this debt, never. They never wrote to me about it. They never said anything about it. They were never in touch with me since about it."
Mr Coughlan pointed out that, about 10 years after the bank settlement, Mr Haughey's solicitors sought and obtained the deeds which were held by AIB in relation to this debt. He asked Mr Haughey if it had occurred to him in the intervening period to repay the debt.
Mr Haughey took issue with this, saying he felt Mr Coughlan was misrepresenting the situation. He emphasised that he had not acted dishonourably and said the debt was to be repaid "in due course".
Mr Haughey pointed to the bank's settlement deal, which included a reference to the debt being repaid with funds arising from the sale of land at Abbeville. "Up until last week, no lands were sold", he said.
Questioned on his understanding of the term "reasonable period of time", Mr Haughey said he felt the bank was putting the matter on the long finger. "If the bank had come to me, pressing for payment, that would be a different situation. Perhaps then we could have considered selling land", he said.
"Considered selling land?" Mr Coughlan said, and Mr Haughey again repeated that the bank had never come to him "from that day to this" looking for money.
