GRÁINNE CARRUTH started working for Bertie Ahern in 1987, straight from school. She worked for him in his constituency offices, first over Fagan's pub and then later in St Luke's, both in Drumcondra, up to 1995.
That year she moved to Kildare House across the road from Leinster House. At the time Mr Ahern was leader of the opposition.
In 1997, when Mr Ahern became Taoiseach, Ms Carruth moved to Government Buildings to work for him there. In 1999 she took maternity leave but never returned to continue working for him.
In evidence last year, Ms Carruth told the tribunal about the work she did for Mr Ahern. "It was just secretarial work. I was just in the office just doing secretarial duties. Answering the phone, dealing with constituents and trying to sort out constituency matters."
The tribunal heard that in 1994 she was being paid £66.91 a week by a company called Willdover Ltd. Willdover was controlled by Mr Ahern's friend, Des Richardson, and was used by him to bill Fianna Fáil in the 1990s for his fundraising services. When this was put to Ms Carruth, she said she had not known this at the time. "My cheque came on Friday and I was happy to receive it," she said.
Ms Carruth told the tribunal last year that she would cash Mr Ahern's salary cheques for him and bring the cash back to St Luke's, where he would put it in a safe. She never saw into his safe and could not say if the safe contained a large amount of cash, as Mr Ahern has told the tribunal. She said she also lodged money to accounts of Mr Ahern's two daughters, but never dealt with sterling.
