Bertie ‘not impoverished, but not wealthy’ when given handout

FORMER taoiseach Bertie Ahern said he was not impoverished, but not wealthy, when he was given a sum of £16,500 by a group of businessmen in 1994 despite already having savings of up to £70,000.

Mr Ahern told the Mahon tribunal he was given the second of two dig-out payments in a folder when he visited the Beaumont House pub on a midweek evening in the autumn. The money was presented to Mr Ahern, then a finance minister, from the owner of the Beaumont House, Dermot Carew, as well as three other men: Joe Burke, Barry English and Paddy Reilly.

The biggest contributor, Mr English, who contributed £5,000 was “not a close friend” of Mr Ahern and they had only met each other four or five times in the pub with others, said Mr Ahern.