A LETTER that arrived from Irish Life & Permanent in the Mahon Tribunal on March 5 was to prove pivotal in the inquiry’s investigation of Bertie Ahern’s finances and one that probably ultimately brought a premature end to his long tenure as taoiseach.

BERTIE AHERN either has a very lucky touch with the gee-gees or his tribunal evidence is made up of the stuff horses leave behind them on the ground.

Bertie Ahern has told the Mahon Tribunal today that some of the sterling lodgements made to his accounts in the early 1990s were winnings from bets on horses.

THE Manchester-based businessman John Kennedy said yesterday he did not intend to mislead the tribunal when he changed his original account of why he gave a cash payment to Bertie Ahern in the early 1990s.

One of the businessmen who attended a function in Manchester in 1994, at which Bertie Ahern claims he was given Stg£8,000 in a whip-around, has changed his reason for donating the money.

AT the start of his second day in the witness box, the Taoiseach expressed surprise at the extensive trawl of his financial affairs which arose from an order for discovery of documents by the tribunal.

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern was yesterday at a loss to explain crucial details about payments amounting to about IR£25,000 from friends and businessmen during the 1990s.

RELATIONS between the Coalition partners were close to breaking point last night over Taoiseach Bertie Ahern’s failure to inform Tánaiste Michael McDowell about an Irish-born businessman who was present in a Manchester hotel when Mr Ahern received £8,000 (€12,000).

More businessmen today came forward to support an account by the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern on how he received cash at a Manchester function while Finance Minister in 1994.

The deepening crisis facing Taoiseach Bertie Ahern over cash payments he accepted when Minister for Finance in the 1990s was tonight sharply dividing his Government.

LAST week, I put on the record of the House a number of the allegations that have been made against me at the tribunals. Each and every one of these charges is baseless.