I was not Ahern’s close friend, says economist

TOP economist Padraic O’Connor — who signed off on a £5,000 payment that Bertie Ahern says was to go towards his marital separation legal costs in 1993 — yesterday disputed the Taoiseach’s description of him as being a personal friend.

Mr O’Connor, who was then managing director of NCB Stockbrokers, told the Mahon Tribunal his relationship with Mr Ahern was a professional one. He was a currency adviser to the Government when Mr Ahern was finance minister.

Asked by tribunal lawyer Des O’Neill SC if he was a personal friend — then or now — of Mr Ahern, Mr O’Connor replied: “I had a relationship with Mr Ahern in the early 1990s which I would describe as a professional relationship.