Taoiseach's property transaction:Bertie Ahern was close to becoming Taoiseach when he first discussed moving into his home, writes Colm Keena
The circumstances surrounding the renting and then purchasing of his home in Drumcondra by the Taoiseach in the 1990s have much to do with his political life, according to sources.
In 1991, when Charles Haughey was retiring as leader of Fianna Fáil and Bertie Ahern was considering entering the leadership contest against Albert Reynolds, Mr Reynolds made the remark that "people do like to know where the Taoiseach of the day is living".
The remark was seen by many as a warning shot that if Mr Ahern entered the contest, his marital circumstances and the fact that he was no longer living in the family home, would be aired in public. In the event, Mr Ahern did not put his hat into the ring and Mr Reynolds won the contest.
Mr Ahern served as minister for finance in the Fianna Fáil-Labour government formed by Mr Reynolds after the 1992 general election. This government collapsed in November 1994 and Mr Reynolds resigned as leader of Fianna Fáil. He was replaced by Mr Ahern.
Mr Ahern was on the brink of forming a new government with Labour, without a general election being called, when a story in The Irish Times prompted Labour leader Dick Spring to switch tack and form the Rainbow Coalition with Fine Gael and Democratic Left. This happened in December 1994.
As Mr Ahern explained last year on RTÉ, his legal separation from his wife Miriam was finalised in November 1993. In December of that year he received £22,500, money he said he was given after eight of his friends decided to give him a "dig out". One of the people involved in collecting the money was the late Gerard Brennan, a solicitor with a practice on Mount Street, Dublin.
Mr Brennan acted in the purchase of Mr Ahern's constituency building, St Luke's, when that premises was bought in 1988 by five associates of Mr Ahern's acting in trust for his constituency organisation, and was a friend of and personal solicitor to Mr Ahern.
A further sum, £16,500, was given to Mr Ahern in 1994, this time coming from another four friends or associates, according to Mr Ahern. He also received £7,845stg from a group of people who, he said, were at a function he attended in Manchester.
One person who attended the function was Michael Wall, a Manchester-based businessman who was a native of Cong, Co Mayo, and who used the services of Mr Brennan and his firm on Mount Street, for his affairs in Ireland.
When in late 1994 the Reynolds government collapsed, the prospect arose that Mr Ahern was about to become party leader and Taoiseach.
He began to look around for a house as a matter of urgency. It was in this general context that Mr Ahern came to be a tenant in a house on Beresford Avenue, off Griffith Avenue, in Drumcondra, Dublin.
The Mahon tribunal is examining aspects of Mr Ahern's financial affairs in order to verify his claim that he never received any money from Cork property developer Owen O'Callaghan.
The Irish Times understands that the tribunal has been told that in late 1994 Mr Wall, for reasons of his own, was looking to buy a house in Dublin. It is also understood the tribunal has been told that Mr Ahern's then partner, Celia Larkin, knew Mr Wall independently of her relationship with Mr Ahern.
At some stage around or during December 1994 the idea arose that Mr Ahern would move into the house Mr Wall was going to buy on Beresford Avenue.
The house was in an estate built just six years earlier but was, apparently, in need of redecoration and refurbishment.
The idea also arose that a conservatory should be built. As part of these plans Mr Wall handed over £30,000stg in cash, which Ms Larkin placed in a bank account in her name. This occurred in December 1994.
Documents in the Registry of Deeds show Mr Wall purchased the house on March 30th, 1995 and the solicitor who acted for him in the transaction was Mr Brennan. Mr Wall took out a mortgage from the ICS Building Society in July, again with Mr Brennan acting for Mr Wall.
On Monday, Mr Ahern said the £30,000stg banked by Ms Larkin "was towards . . . it was a stamp duty issue and it was towards the refurbishment of the house".
He said Ms Larkin "facilitated the work that he [ Mr Wall] did on the house" and that it was "entirely appropriate" that she was involved in this way.
Last year the Taoiseach told of how during the period of his separation he had no bank account of his own and managed to save £50,000 which he kept in his possession, in cash. This money, he has since said, was kept in a safe.
Mr Ahern has told the tribunal that some of this money was also used on decorating and refurbishing the house owned by Mr Wall. The tribunal has also been told that there was an understanding that Mr Ahern had an option to buy the house from Mr Wall at market value, if the matter arose.
It is not clear why Mr Ahern, who as mentioned had substantial savings and was minister for finance, did not purchase a new house during 1994 or afterwards. The Dáil was dissolved in May 1997 and when the new government formed in June 26th 1997, Mr Ahern was made taoiseach.
The documents in the Registry of Deeds show that Mr Wall assigned the house to Mr Ahern on October 31st, 1997.
A mortgage document dated November 28th, 1997 shows Mr Ahern took out a mortgage on the house with the Irish Permanent. Mr Brennan had passed away by this time and did not act for either party.
It is understood the tribunal has been shown how Mr Ahern took out a mortgage for £150,000 and paid for the balance of the transaction with funds accumulated in a building society savings account over the previous number of years.
Last year Mr Ahern told the Dáil that he paid a full market rent for the house while he was a tenant and that he paid the full market price when he purchased the house. "Mr Wall would have had a gain of about 30 per cent in the two and a half years," he said.
If Mr Ahern's calculation is correct then Mr Wall paid approximately £149,000 for the house.
How any money spent by Mr Wall or Mr Ahern on improvements to the house feature in this calculation, is not clear.
In 1998, Mr Ahern told Ken Whelan and Eugene Masterson, authors of Bertie Ahern: Taoiseach and Peacemaker, that he paid £139,000 for the house and took out a mortgage of £100,000 when doing so. The book said the house was purchased two years' prior to the book being written. The authors say they still have a tape recording of the interview with Mr Ahern and that the Taoiseach was given an opportunity to correct a galley proof of the book before it was published, and did correct some other aspects of the galley proof. Last year it was reported that, if pressed, Mr Ahern would say he made a mistake during the interview with the authors.
The tribunal in its inquiries into Mr Ahern's affairs followed the funds paid out by Mr Ahern for his home. The tribunal also, it is understood, checked to see if any of the funds could be seen returning to Mr Ahern's accounts, and found no trace of any such movement.
The tribunal has learned that in 1996 Mr Wall made a will in which he left the Dublin house to Mr Ahern. Mr Ahern has told the tribunal he did not know of this at the time.
Mr Ahern, Mr Wall and Ms Larkin have all co-operated with the tribunal and are to be called as witnesses after the election.