David McKenna is a long-time associate and friend of the Taoiseach, writes Colm Keena.
David McKenna is a former plumber who became a multimillionaire during the 1990s before seeing his publicly quoted recruitment firm go bust spectacularly.
He is a long-time friend and associate of the Taoiseach and sometimes frequents fund-raising events for both Fianna Fáil and Mr Ahern.
He, Mr Ahern and Fianna Fáil fundraiser Des Richardson, who organises many of these events, are friends who share an interest in football club Manchester United.
It was while working on sprinkling systems in the UK in the early 1990s that Mr McKenna noticed a large dearth of manpower and decided to move into the recruitment business.
In 1992 he bought Marlborough Recruitment from a liquidator, for just €7,500.
The company grew in tandem with the Irish economy and, by 1997, Mr McKenna was ready to float the company on the Dublin and London stock exchanges.
With the Irish economy booming and the jobs market buoyant, the share price surged ahead.
A few months after flotation the company was worth close to €150 million and Mr McKenna's personal shareholding was valued at close to €70 million.
At the time of the flotation Mr McKenna sold part of his own shareholding for €5 million.
Marlborough acquired a number of companies in Britain and Ireland.
By February 2000, the company had a turnover of more than €70 million and was producing annual pre-tax profits of more than €6 million.
Then it all began to go wrong. A dot.com offshoot failed. A bid to purchase a US dotcom company, e-pawn.com, collapsed when its shares were suspended in the US and its chief executive was arrested for alleged securities fraud.
The US company's advisory directors had included former taoiseach Albert Reynolds.
In early 2001, Marlborough issued the first of what was to be a series of profit warnings. A management buyout attempt by Mr McKenna failed.
In February 2002, the company's shares were suspended and a receiver appointed.
During the later stages of the company's existence, Mr Richardson joined the board as executive chairman.
Subsequently, another Fianna Fáil fundraiser, businessman Paul Kavanagh, also became involved in the company.
Mr Richardson is a businessman and fundraiser who has been a close associate of Bertie Ahern since the 1980s.
Many years ago he replaced the assorted events previously used to fundraise for Mr Ahern's constituency operation with an annual dinner in the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham.
The move proved a great success, with hundreds of people from the construction and other sectors paying more than £100 each for the privilege of attending.
When Mr Ahern was appointed Fianna Fáil treasurer in 1993, he asked Mr Richardson to become a full-time party fund-raiser, a position that did not exist up to then.
The party debt at the time was £3.5 million (€4.44 million). It was cleared before Fianna Fáil started into the 1997 general election campaign.
In 1999, Mr Richardson resigned from the fundraising role. He did not give a reason for the move at the time but it came soon after he had taken up an executive role with Marlborough Holdings plc.
In 1997, Mr Richardson was appointed to the board of Aer Lingus by Mr Ahern's government.
He remains on the board of the company, which is preparing for its flotation on the Dublin and London stock exchanges.
More recently, Mr Richardson teamed up again with Mr McKenna as an adviser and small shareholder in a software venture called Mobile Integrated Solutions.
The company was subsequently bought by a company called Vimio.
Mr McKenna is currently executive chairman of Vimio, which is based in Dublin and has its shares quoted on the Alternative Investment Market in London.
In September 2005, when Vimio was listed in London, it raised €7.3 million net of expenses.
Its then chairman, Fran Rooney, resigned and Mr McKenna took his place.
In the year to end December 2005, it had operating losses of €2.3 million.