Threats by Allied Irish Banks to take Mr Charles Haughey's cheque books from him would not have been taken seriously, according to the former Taoiseach.
Mr Haughey, in his first appearance at the Moriarty tribunal in Dublin Castle, said he would have been "at one remove" from such threats because his accountants, Haughey Boland, operated a bill-paying service for him and wrote his cheques.
The inquiry also heard he had insisted his proposal to extend his overdrafts should go to the bank's board. At the same time the bank's regional general manager was asking him to return his cheque books.
Mr Haughey was replying to Mr John Coughlan SC, for the tribunal, who went through 13 documents written in the early 1970s. They outlined Mr Haughey's increasing indebtedness to AIB, the bank's rising concerns about the "intolerable level" of his accounts, and interviews Mr Haughey had at the Dame Street branch, where he held a number of accounts.
Mr Coughlan referred to a memo of an interview at that branch on January 6th, 1975, when Mr Haughey was told they would have to consider withdrawing his cheque book.
Mr Haughey had said the bidder who offered £200,000 for his stud farm could not pay. He had said there could be an improvement in the market in spring and asked the bank to give him an "accommodation" of £100,000, which he had almost reached. He admitted to being "casual in his dealings with the bank" but would operate his accounts in future within the arrangements being agreed.
Mr Coughlan: "This memo is recording what appears for the first time a threat that considerations would have to be given to withdrawing your cheque book."
Mr Haughey could not remember if this had happened, but it might have. Mr Coughlan put it that nobody else ever suggested they withdraw his cheque book. "Would you have considered this a significant thing to be said to you? Or was it your view that the bank were just putting pressure on you and you were going to exert equal pressure back?"
Mr Haughey said he thought it was the bank putting pressure on him, "but I would imagine it wouldn't be taken too seriously". He was not writing his own cheques.
In another document the regional general manager, Mr J.J. McAuliffe, noted a debt of £110,777 and described Mr Haughey as "quite irresponsible in money matters. He cannot be controlled on a running account." The bank could only elicit "empty promises" to reduce his overdraft. He was asked to fund the debt by borrowing substantially from the Northern Bank which held his valuable security.
Mr Haughey, however, had made an "audacious application" to increase the facility on his account. When told this was likely to exacerbate relations with the bank and provoke a refusal he insisted on his proposal for an extension going to the board's bank.
Mr Haughey told the tribunal the memo was "one of those documents that overwhelm me". He added: "Quite frankly I am lost. It overwhelms me, confuses me."
Asked by Mr Coughlan about insisting the proposal be taken to the board of the bank, Mr Haughey replied that he would only have been dealing with the people he spoke to at the meeting. "I can't see me trying to run the internal affairs of the bank."
In one memo he was quoted as saying he intended to build an "elaborate house" on Inishvickillane Island in Co Kerry. Yesterday Mr Haughey said, however: "I can't see myself saying I propose to build an elaborate house on Inishvickillane. That just wouldn't be true."
