TAOISEACH BERTIE Ahern has insisted his authority has not been damaged by the disclosure that his former partner bought a house with a loan from his constituency organisation.
Mr Ahern said that the agreement made with Celia Larkin was that the money "would be paid on demand if that was required. Now obviously that wasn't [required]," he said, following an Ógra Fianna Fáil conference in Tullamore.
The money was to be repaid on demand if this was required by the building fund committee of his O'Donovan Rossa cumann, or if a mortgage was taken out "and that hasn't happened, or if her relatives were all deceased and thankfully that hasn't happened. That was the basis of it."
Ms Larkin paid back the money and an undisclosed sum of interest in recent weeks, after the Mahon tribunal began to make inquiries about the issue and without any of the repayment conditions being triggered.
"I didn't know about it in advance, but I did know about it at the time," Mr Ahern said. "If the constituency needed it three months later they would have had to get it back.
They [Ms Larkin and her relatives] required it at short notice to try to deal with what for them was a crisis situation. My friends and colleagues in the constituency helped them.
"If it had been required immediately they would have given it back, but it wasn't. "The same interest that they would have got if the money had remained in the account is what they have got." He said his local organisation did not see this as an issue, "I can assure you of that".
Asked if he was able to remain focused on government in spite of the difficulties of preparing for appearances before the tribunal, he said:
"Not a bother. I was out at functions straight afterwards. I am a resilient person. You just have to deal with these things. It just means that you have to work a bit harder.
"Back in 1998-2000 [when] I was spending 50-60 hours [a week] on Northern Ireland, it would have been more difficult. The chairman made a valid point saying that for me to clear my name this is what I have to do. The only issue that I am on trial on - for that is what it seems like, though I know it is not meant to be - is did I get money from Owen O'Callaghan in any form, or by a device. Ultimately, though I have to go through this process, I will be found innocent because I never did."
Becoming irritable on being asked if he believed he had become "a national embarrassment", in the words of Labour leader Eamon Gilmore, Mr Ahern said he had not been "compromised" by the Larkin loan and insisted that his authority remained strong. He rejected suggestions that he owed tax on a £5,000 payment which he has said came from Davy Stockbrokers.
"I don't believe that I am due to pay any tax on it. That is my view. But to remove any doubt when we went through the accounts back in 2006, the view of my tax adviser was that we should put it in and then continue to see if I could find [proof of where it came from] but I will still argue the case that I do not believe that I am due tax on that."
His said his counsel, Conor Maguire SC, and tribunal chairman Judge Alan Mahon had "probably both got heated" during Friday's confrontation at the tribunal. "The point my counsel was making, which I think is a totally valid point, is that when you make a submission, the judges for the tribunal examine that but only consult with the counsel for the tribunal - unlike a court where there would be consultation with both sides. In fairness to Alan Mahon, I think he was pointing out that that is a difficulty with tribunals."
