Ahern fears bankruptcy over Mahon verdict

FORMER Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has claimed the Mahon Tribunal could bankrupt him if it does not find in his favour.

Mr Ahern claimed he only got into trouble with the tribunal because multi-millionaire developers fell out and it had the effect of blackening his name.

He said defending himself in the tribunal “cost me probably everything I had and everything I’d saved”.

Speaking to Tom McGurk on 4FM during a round of interviews to promote his newly published memoirs, he also admitted the culture of political expenses which led to the downfall of John O’Donoghue had been far too lax.

“I can honestly put my hand on my heart and say there was too much of an easy atmosphere about how things were organised and it was public money and there was abuses at that stage in reality,” he said.

That said, he defended his economic record. Mr Ahern insisted the country was still in a reasonable position, with almost two million people working.

He accepted that ministerial pay, public service wages and house prices had inflated on his watch – all of which contributed to the crisis.

“But even on the other side of this, we’ll still be more wealthy than the rest of Europe. And we’ve done really well,” he insisted.

Speaking on the Ray D’Arcy show on Today FM, also to promote his autobiography, Mr Ahern refused to accept he or his administrations had mismanaged the boom.

“I don’t accept it was mismanaged,” he said. “For 15 years from the time I was Minister for Finance in this country, things went from better to even better again.”

He claimed the wealthy builders traditionally associated with Fianna Fáil were now the “poor” people.

“The wealthy people that we used to be hassled about are all the poor people now... I have seen builders that were considered two or three years ago to be very wealthy people, and they have massive judgments against them... I’ve seen them lose their house.”

Mr Ahern insisted he was not obsessed with his critics, but said: “I think Northern people probably appreciate me more… because I spent half my time involved in that [the peace process].”

On the Mahon Tribunal, he accepted that he put his former secretary, Gráinne Carruth, in a difficult position.

In March last year, Ms Carruth broke into tears after her original evidence to the inquiry was questioned by tribunal lawyers. She accepted that, as a matter of probability, she had changed sterling for Mr Ahern in the 1990s.

Mr Ahern was heavily criticised at the time for allowing Ms Carruth endure such an ordeal.

It was seen by many as the point when his position became no longer tenable, and just a month later, he announced he would step down.

Mr Ahern again insisted yesterday he was unaware at the time that Ms Carruth had been recalled to give evidence. But he accepted he had put her in that position.

“Of course I did. I mean, if she wasn’t lodging the cheques for me in the first place, she would have never been in that position.”

In a subsequent interview with Pat Kenny on RTÉ, Mr Ahern said he was “deeply sorry” Ms Carruth had found herself in such a position.