"I wouldn't be biased against him and while I haven't nailed my colours to any political mast, I'm a Dick Spring man. Look what Dick did for Tralee. What did Denis Foley do? My answer is nothing. Of the three TDs in North Kerry he would come in at No 3 in the popularity ratings." This was the view yesterday of an astute political pundit in Tralee, who has observed Mr Foley for many years at close quarters.
"Sorry for him? Why should I be sorry for him? If there was a skeleton in his closet, why did he agree to sit on the Public Accounts Committee in the first place, and as its vice-chairman to boot? It's asking a bit much of the people in this part of the world or anywhere else for that matter, to believe he didn't know where his money was invested.
"If I had a few bob on account, I think I would be well aware of where it was. Wouldn't most people? In my view, his actions amounted to the worst form of hypocrisy possible."
Denis Foley was always up against it in Tralee where his three-seater constituency also returned Mr Spring (Labour), Jimmy Deenihan (Fine Gael) at the last election. Previously, Mr Spring had come perilously close to losing his seat and was determined that would never happen again.
As Tanaiste he lavished political favours on Tralee. He used his clout to make things happen and to facilitate investors. The tangible evidence is a booming Tralee with a cluster of new hotels and urban renewal projects. The Kerry capital has never seen such building activity. Everybody in the thriving town believes that Dick Spring was the catalyst. Nobody ascribes the good times to Denis Foley.
"I think you could say about him that he is a tough business man and that he has crossed a lot of people in his business dealings. The whole town knows he is a wealthy man and I don't think the Foley family ever tried to hide that fact," the Tralee source said.
"I do know that his popularity, such as it is, is on the decline, but it would be difficult to predict what these revelations will do to his future. I suspect that a more sophisticated electorate will be drawing its own conclusions,"
Mr Foley is described as a religious man who is against abortion. He also takes a keen interest in greyhounds and is renowned as a shrewd gambler, one who is not averse to sitting at the poker table into the early hours. "He'd play all night. That's the kind he is."
The non-drinking Fianna Fail politician was known in Tralee decades ago as a rate-collector and an entertainment promoter who brought showbands and other acts to the area, particularly to the Mount Brandon Hotel were he ran the ballroom.
Not every decision he made was successful, and on one notable occasion in 1967 his involvement in a proposal to bring the American actress, Jayne Mansfield, to the hotel was scuppered by Bishop Denis Moynihan of Kerry. The sex-bomb actress was not the kind of entertainer the bishop wanted his flock to support.
The actress was to have been paid £1,000, plus expenses, but after a statement from the bishop was read at Masses, the hotel-owners cancelled her appearance. The accountant at the hotel during those days was the late Des Traynor, then attached to the firm of Haughey Boland.
First elected to the Dail in 1981, Mr Foley has since amassed considerable property in Tralee and other parts of Kerry. From humble beginnings, he has become very wealthy. The popular perception is that he counts his fortune in millions.
Whatever about the wisdom of accepting a high-profile role on the Public Accounts Committee when he was the holder of one of the controversial Ansbacher accounts which Mr Traynor helped to set up, he is much better known locally as someone who avoids rash decisions and who would err on the side of conservatism.
His wife, Hannah, runs a successful B&B business near the Brandon Hotel, at Staughton's Row, where he also owns adjoining houses. His daughter, Norma, a former teacher in her 30s, chairs Tralee Urban District Council and is believed to be waiting in the wings to take her father's seat on his retirement, although he told the Opinion Poll programme on Radio Kerry recently that he intended to contest the next general election. Several of his other property interests are leased to various businesses in the town.
If Mr Spring's profile was always higher, and especially so when he became instrumental in transforming the fabric of Tralee, Mr Foley adopted a different approach and was good at the political basics.
"His business dealings are one thing, but on the ground he was always seen as the kind of politician who would help people with the small things," said the Tralee source.
"He was good at that kind of thing, but I could never see the shrewd gambler I thought I knew taking the gamble he did on the committee. That was out of character for him."
One other political observer in the town said Mr Foley had brought the art of political fence-sitting to a new high. "He was very practised in the art, by which I mean he could sit on either side of the fence at the same time. It could never be said of him that he developed controversial opinions. The last person he talked to was his next opinion, I suppose that's why Fianna Fail saw him as a safe pair of hands. He would be seen here as a desperately cautious man."
Mr Foley was not available yesterday to discuss those points.