Ahern's loan

So Ahern took out a bank loan, like a common man would, to pay off what he owed in legal fees following his seperation. Ahern did say during the Dobson interview that this was the case. But why did the bank not ask for security? Ahern was taking out a loan of almost £20,000, which amounted to more than half his annual salary at the time (as best I can find out the Minister for Finance two years later was on £40,000 a year).

Here is the transcript from today.

Not alone did Ahern take out the loan, but he also apparently had money to lodge into an SSA. And why can’t the bank official remember opening the SSA for Ahern? Why was Ahern even taking out a loan when he had £50,000 in cash in a safe? Why did he need another £22,500 from his friends on top of his £50,000 in savings, receiving that £22,500 within days of taking out the loan for almost £20,000? The following year friends loaned him another £16,500, on top of the £22,500, on top of the £50,000 he saved (though he says that was all swallowed up by bills), and on top of the near £20,000 loan. And then there was the £8,000 gift from Manchester businessmen.

The allegation is that Ahern received corrupt payments, of figures in and around those figures that are being talked about here. The Tribunal is entirely right to try and get to the bottom of where all the money came from, and why.

Does anyone know how much Ahern is said to have earned between 1986 and 1993?