Ahern repayment of loan ‘a surprise’

AN Australia-based businessman has admitted surprise that Bertie Ahern repaid him money 13 years after he had contributed £2,500 to a “dig-out” for the former Taoiseach in the mid-1990s.

Michael Collins, an Irishman who is now based in Sydney, told the Mahon Tribunal yesterday that he had never expected to get the money back from Mr Ahern.

Mr Collins was one of six people who each contributed £2,500 as a “dig-out” payment to the former Fianna Fáil leader in December 1993.