Extract from Allied Irish Banks' memorandum of a meeting in 1976 between Mr Charles Haughey and bank officials.
"At the outset, Mr Denvir [the area general manager] adopted the very hard line suggested by the banking department lending committee and having spelt out the bank's attitude to the major increase in the debt over the past year, he formally demanded Mr Haughey to hand over his chequebooks forthwith. "At this point, Mr Haughey became quite vicious and told Mr Denvir that he would not give up his chequebooks as he had to live and that we were dealing with an adult and no banker would talk to him in this manner. Furthermore he stated that if any drastic action were taken by the bank, he could be a `very troublesome adversary'.
"Having settled down somewhat following this outburst, discussions took place and various proposals were aired . . At all times the present critical situation was stated clearly to Mr Haughey, who could give us no explanation for drawings for £118,000 in 12 months and finally. . . proposals emerged." ". . . He stressed the importance of his position, prestige etc. and on no account would he consider outright sale of Abbeville now, as it was in his constituency. Meeting concluded and he departed having been left in no doubt as to the seriousness of the bank's firm intentions once and for all to freeze the debt and obtain repayment in full in the short term."