Taoiseach defends contact with AIB over tribunal probe

The Taoiseach is defending the contact he made with an AIB official inquiring about transactions under investigation by the Mahon Tribunal.

Jim McNamara told the tribunal yesterday that Bertie Ahern contacted him earlier this year to ask about specific lodgements being investigated by the inquiry.

Mr Ahern was wondering what conclusive evidence the bank had that three specific lodgements made in the 1990s were foreign exchange transactions.

Mr McNamara admitted that it was a very unusual request from the Taoiseach.

Fine Gael has described the contact as "bizarre" and "peculiar in the extreme", especially as Mr Ahern made the contact himself rather than getting his legal team to do so.

However, a spokesman for Mr Ahern insisted last night that he was "perfectly entitled" to speak to Mr McNamara about his own bank records.

He said the Taoiseach was trying to get details of lodgements that happened 12 or 13 years ago to help him prepare his responses to tribunal questions.

The AIB official is due to face further questions about Mr Ahern's finances later today.