Crumbling story

Ahern’s story of being stuck for cash in 1994 continues to crumble. The Tribunal does, I believe, think the £16,500 and the £8,000 payments to be non-existent. The £25,000 stg equivalent is just too much of a coincidence.

The Irish Times seems to have got their sums wrong too, or at least they are forgetting some of the cash. Colm Keena writes:

The Taoiseach Bertie Ahern had £70,000 on deposit when he accepted a cash contribution of £16,500 from four supporters in September 1994, the Mahon tribunal heard yesterday.

Technically correct. But as far as I can tell there was the other £20,000 in the name of his daughters, which was from his alleged cash savings. So to be clear the lodgments and savings as far as I can gather were:

December 1993, £22,500 lodged to SSA
April 1994, SSA topped with £30,000, remainder going to current
August 1994, Daughter lodgment, £20,000
PTSB account, £20,000

Addition of the 16,500 + 8,000 (£24,838.49) or 25,000 stg

Total: £117,338.49.

And still he couldn’t afford a house, despite being able to get an unsecured loan from AIB for almost £20,000 just nine months earlier. Why did the bank not need security? “He was the Minister for Finance,” said AIB.