Taoiseach Bertie Ahern yesterday accused the Mahon tribunal of trying to "stitch me up" during an angry outburst while he was being questioned closely about his personal finances.
At another point, when being questioned by tribunal counsel Des O'Neill SC, Mr Ahern referred to his separation from his wife which, he said, "I don't think is any of your damn business".
At the opening of yesterday's hearing, Mr O'Neill asked a range of questions concerning Mr Ahern's marriage break-up.
Mr Ahern was resuming his evidence at the tribunal, which is questioning him about cash savings totalling £54,000, which he says he accumulated during the period 1987 to 1993; amounts of money he has said were the result of two unsolicited "dig-outs" by friends in 1993 and 1994; and an amount of cash given to him in Manchester in 1994.
Mr Ahern has said the first "dig-out" was given to him in December 1993. The £22,500 had been collected from eight "personal friends" who wanted to help him with bills arising from his separation agreement with his wife.
Mr Ahern strongly rejected a suggestion from Mr O'Neill that, instead of receiving £22,500 in an unsolicited "dig-out", Mr Ahern had in fact set about acquiring the money in the week before Christmas that year for use as backing to a loan which would go towards settling his separation bills.
"It is unbelievable, Mr O'Neill," Mr Ahern said. "It is unbelievable and I really, really don't believe . . . that you or anybody else would put that together, other than trying to set me up and stitch me up. That is just unbelievable. Unbelievable!"
The tribunal heard Mr Ahern took out a loan of £19,115 on December 23rd, 1993, £12,813 of which was used to pay his own legal bills.
Mr Ahern said a number of days later, on December 27th, Mr Brennan, who was his solicitor and who acted for him in his separation proceedings, gave him the £22,500 raised in the "dig-out".
The £22,500 was lodged with AIB O'Connell Street, where Mr Ahern had sourced his loan, but he denied that the deposit was used to "back" his £19,115 loan, on which no repayments were made for 18 months after it was taken out.
In initial questioning yesterday, Mr O'Neill focused on the break-up of Mr Ahern's marriage. He said he was not doing so out of "any prurient interest" but because the transactions being examined had been connected with the separation.
Mr O'Neill asked if anyone had offered money to Mr Ahern in the period after his "de facto" separation from his wife in early 1987. Mr Ahern said no one had. He also confirmed that no one had in that period offered to help him to buy a house.
Asked why he operated no personal bank account in the period between 1987 and the finalisation of his separation agreement with his wife in November 1993, Mr Ahern said he "wanted to do it that way".
"There is nothing in the law or the Constitution that you should . . . Some people put yellow in their hair, some people wear rings in their nose . . . I decided to cash my cheques, full stop."
Mr Ahern said he would cash his cheques and keep surplus cash in a safe in his office in the Department of Finance, and in his safe in St Luke's, Drumcondra. He saved up to £54,000 in this way. He said this was not a large amount, given the period involved and his earnings.
"Money isn't that important to me one way or the other," he said. He confirmed that interest rates were very high during the period he raised his cash savings.
Mr Ahern is to resume his evidence today.
A political row over the tribunal's questioning of the Taoiseach surfaced last night, with Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern describing the questioning of his leader as "astounding" and Fine Gael accusing the Minister of a "disgraceful attempt" to divert attention from the evidence.
Mr Ahern said that what was happening at the tribunal was the antithesis of what it was supposed to be doing in investigating planning issues. Senator Eugene Regan of Fine Gael accused the Minister of "a disgraceful attack" on the working of the tribunal just as it was "closing in on the unbelievable stories" offered by the Taoiseach.
Earlier, Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore repeated his call for the Taoiseach to resign.
