A former director and deputy chief executive of AIB, Mr Patrick Dowling, represented Dr Garret FitzGerald in his negotiations with the bank concerning a 1993 loan.
Mr Dowling, who retired from AIB in 1992, said he was asked by Dr FitzGerald's son, Mr Mark FitzGerald, to advise his father about his financial situation. He did not have a personal or professional relation ship with the former Taoiseach but had a business relationship with Mr Mark FitzGerald.
Dr FitzGerald believed he might still be able to pay off his loan with a recovery in the GPA share price or through raising funds from working, but Mr Dowling argued against this. It was with "great reluctance" that Dr FitzGerald agreed that an approach to the bank be made, he said.
At that point the question of Dr FitzGerald's home on Palmerston Road, Dublin, came up for discussion. The FitzGerald family discussed the matter and it was decided Mr Mark FitzGerald would sell his own family home and buy his father's.
After settling the mortgage and contributions to structural work on the home, "at least £30,000" would be left over to offer to the bank.
Mr Dowling said he believed this decision was "admirable". "I would have rated that as one of the greatest acts of selfless family solidarity I had personally experienced up to that time," he said.
Mr Dowling informed the then incoming chief executive of AIB, Mr T.P. Mulcahy, that he had taken on the assignment. This was done as "a matter of courtesy". He had no discussions with Mr Mulcahy about the situation.
He contacted the head of lending control at AIB, pointed out the futility of "aggressive debt collection", and said everything honourable that could be done would be done.
The eventual settlement was then negotiated with Mr Thomas Barry, and agreed in November 1993.
He said Dr FitzGerald was troubled and "extremely embarrassed" by the matter. Overall, he believed the settlement with the bank was a good compromise, Mr Dowling said.
The chairman, Mr Justice Moriarty, is to announce his decision today in relation to how or whether he intends seeking more evidence from former Taoiseach Mr Charles Haughey, who is suffering from prostate cancer.
