Ahern reaction: The Taoiseach has said that the amount of money he got from all sources other than his income would be a fraction of what was mentioned in the The Irish Times.
In reply to questions from journalists about the Irish Times report and whether he had got money from businessmen, Bertie Ahern said: "What I got personally in my life is, to be frank with you, is none of your business. If I got something from somebody as a present, if I got money from a family member or something, but I have given that detail to show I got nothing wrongly and I dealt with properly in my books."
Mr Ahern was fulfilling engagements in Co Clare yesterday.
In an interview on Clare FM, he said: "A lot of what is on the front of the paper is absolutely correct. The source of the leak is absolutely impeccable. The person who gave the leak has obviously seen the full file, there is no doubt about that, except for the figures - the figures are off the wall."
In Kilrush, he was asked: "Is the Irish Times story true, did you receive money from businessmen and use it for personal use?"
Mr Ahern said: "We have had a number of stories over the years related to Starry O'Brien and the issues around Starry O'Brien which are really to do with the O'Callaghan case and the module of Quarryvale.
"There were a number of allegations made back in 1999 which they are investigating and have been investigating for a number of years. Some of those previously were made directly, so I took a circuit court action. This is really the related group of issues.
"All of my lodgments, all of my records, all of my personal accounts - I made all of those available. The accusation that I am dealing is the O'Callaghan case and the rest is my personal business.
"Today's leak, from wherever, that is not a matter for me to speculate on that, is just a dishonest leak about one particular issue. The figures are off the wall."
Asked to confirm the figure involved, Mr Ahern said: "No. I am not going to speculate on matters before the tribunal. That is why we have a tribunal.
"The issue that they are investigating is O'Callaghan. I can give you the information on what the figures on O'Callaghan is zero . . .
"Today's allegation is just an unfair, unjust leak. I am not answering what I got on my Holy Communion money, my Confirmation money, what I got for my birthday, what I got for anything else. I'm not into that.
"I gave all the details of everything to do with my life to the tribunal. I am not under investigation for any of these things, including the unjust and unfair leak to the paper."
Asked was he guilty of any wrongdoing, Mr Ahern responded: "Absolutely not." Asked did he pay tax on the amount received, he said: "I have dealt properly with anything that I have done personally. You are not going to turn this into an investigation, if you don't mind, about something that the inquiry is not investigating.
"I gave this information. This is not information that anyone got or found. I gave all the information to show that I got absolutely nothing from Owen O'Callaghan and that I have nothing in banks in Jersey or Liechtenstein.
"I would say that nobody, nobody has given as much detail and co-operation to the tribunal over several years and then for somebody just to take one particular issue out of an issue is just unjust.
"I gave all the information about my separation case and all the information about my legal fees and how I funded everything. These are personal matters. I am not under investigation for that, but I have to do that to show that I didn't improperly get money from anywhere."
Asked again did he pay tax on the payments received, Mr Ahern said: "In any issue, you have asked the question already, I dealt with it properly. To show that I didn't receive any money improperly, I have to show every salary cheque, expense cheque, Christmas gifts and all sorts of things . . .
"The amount of money that I got from all sources other than my income would be a fraction of what was mentioned in the papers."
Asked by a reporter how damaging this could be for him, Mr Ahern said: "I don't want to say that this is politically motivated, but this is . . . dirty, dishonest deal and somebody went to a lot of trouble to place this in the public domain. It has been going on for the last few days. We have been well aware it has been going on."
Asked if he had more questions to answer, Mr Ahern said: "The only question to me is, and you could help me with this, who went to the trouble in such a motivated and scurrilous way leaking what was a confidential session that I had with a tribunal and putting it in the public domain. That is the question."
