Transactions:Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has said he is no longer certain that he lodged exactly IR£16,500 as part of a transaction to his bank account in AIB in October, 1994.
He is also uncertain that he lodged exactly stg£8,000 on the same day, given to him as a personal donation by businessmen in Manchester after a dinner. And he is not sure whether the dinner took place at the end of one soccer season or at the beginning of another.
Mr Ahern was giving evidence as part of his second day in the planning tribunal at Dublin Castle.
Tribunal counsel Des O'Neill SC, examined Mr Ahern on the details of a lodgement of IR£24,838.49, made on October 11th, 1994.
Mr Ahern originally told the tribunal, in a report written by his accountant Des Peelo, in April, 2006, that the sum was partly made up of IR£16,500, loaned to him by friends in Ireland.
The balance of the sum was £8,000 sterling, given to him in Manchester after he had attended a dinner at the Four Seasons Hotel.
In an interview with the tribunal, in April this year, he was asked if he was certain that he had lodged £16,500 and he said that he was. And when pressed that he had lodged £8,000 sterling, he also agreed.
However, yesterday, Mr Ahern said the £8,000 figure had always been "circa". He said he believed he was given £8,000 sterling, but may have spent a little of it if he had visited Manchester again before he made the lodgement, or he may have added some money of his own to it.
He also said that though he definitely received a loan of £16,500 from his friends, he was not sure if he lodged that exact amount.
"You agreed you were certain, I am somewhat baffled why that position changed," Mr O'Neill said.
"To be able to say in April 2007, what I was lodging on 11th October, 1994, is something that is impossible . . . I was just giving you the best estimate," Mr Ahern replied.
Mr O'Neill pointed out that, if an exchange rate for up to £2,500 was applied to the sum lodged, it equated to exactly £25,000 sterling. He also pointed out that the bank had taken in an unusually large amount of sterling that day.
It usually took in about £2,200 sterling, but had taken in £27,491.95 on October 11th, 1994, he said.
He also said that £8,000 sterling converted into Irish punts, could not equate to the exact amount needed to make up the balance of the lodgement with £16,500 without including change.
Mr Ahern said that if he did the sums himself, and had lodged a bit more or a bit less sterling, he could come up with the figure of £24,838.49.
Mr O'Neill asked him if he had gone "back to the drawing board" when the tribunal demonstrated that his explanation of the composition of the lodgement could not be possible.
Mr Ahern replied "Exactly."
Asked about when the Manchester dinner took place, Mr Ahern said he had thought it was September, at the beginning of the soccer season, but it may have been April, at the end of it.
"Can you remember who Manchester United were playing that weekend?" Judge Gerald Keys interjected. "Even if you looked at the fixture list?"
"I did look back," Mr Ahern answered. "I would be a regular attender, it wouldn't necessarily strike me." He could not remember making the lodgement, but had concluded he had gone to the bank himself and carried out the transaction.
Mr O'Neill drew his attention to a lodgement made by his former partner, Celia Larkin, on the same day at the same bank and asked if perhaps Ms Larkin had lodged the money for him.
"I can't recall being there on my own, so I can't recall being there with her," Mr Ahern replied.
