Ahern quizzed on source of lodgments

LODGMENTS up to three times greater than his salary were discovered in Taoiseach Bertie Ahern’s personal deposit account with a building society during the early 1990s, the Mahon Tribunal heard yesterday.

Tribunal lawyer Des O’Neill put it to Mr Ahern these lodgments could not relate only to his salary, as the amounts were considerably in excess — by multiples of two and a half to three times — of his salary.

Mr Ahern said he had not had a bank account since the break-up of his marriage in 1987 until his separation was formalised, shortly before he opened the account with the Irish Permanent Building Society branch in Drumcondra in his own name on January 31, 1994.