Most lodgments to second account ‘from salary’

NUMEROUS lodgments were made to a second Irish Permanent Building Society [IPBS] account opened by one of the Taoiseach’s closest associates.

The tribunal heard yesterday morning of a personal account which Mr Ahern opened in the IPBS in Drumcondra in January 1994 and to which substantial lodgments were subsequently made.

Mr Ahern says most of these lodgments were from his salary, but cannot confirm the origin of two separate lodgments of £5,000.

Yesterday afternoon, tribunal lawyer Des O’Neill raised with Mr Ahern a second IPBS account, opened by a close friend of his, Tim Collins, in 1989.

This account, referred to by Mr Collins by the initials “B” and “T” on the application form, also saw numerous lodgments.

One of the lodgments came to £10,000, part of which comprised a £5,000 political donation from Davy Stockbrokers made in November 1992.

Another lodgment was for more than £19,000, which Mr Ahern said was the proceeds of a golf classic. The last transaction was in 1995 and €47,803.53 remains in the account.

Mr Collins signed a declaration on the application form stating that it was a personal account. But Mr Ahern said it was “absolutely” a Fianna Fáil account, saying it was known as the “Building Trust” account and describing it as a “contingency” for the upkeep of St Luke’s constituency office.

Despite this, Mr Ahern admitted that roughly £200,000 which had been spent on the St Luke’s property had come from other accounts.

However, there were withdrawals from the IPBS account — two of which the tribunal questioned.

The first was in August 1994, when £20,000 was taken out only for the same amount to be lodged back in two months later.

Mr Ahern explained that St Luke’s had a subsidence problem and the money had been withdrawn to address this. But an engineer had subsequently recommended a different solution to the one proposed, so the constituency officers re-lodged the money.

The second significant withdrawal was in 1993. A sum of £30,000 was withdrawn and paid to a solicitor. Mr Ahern explained three elderly relatives of a staff member at St Luke’s were having difficulty with a landlord. The money was used to buy out the landlord’s interest in the property, and had been given in the form of a loan.

Asked who owns the house, Mr Ahern replied: “The staff member owns the house now.”

Mr Ahern admitted the £30,000 loan had been repaid “in the recent past”. He admitted the repayment was made after the tribunal’s first letter raising queries with him.

It also emerged yesterday that Mr Collins wrote to the IPBS in January this year seeking the account name be changed to “building trust/house committee account”.

Mr O’Neill put it to Mr Ahern this was the first time the words “building trust” had been used in relation to the account. Mr Ahern replied that the initials referred to “building trust”.