Modest Foley lifestyle belies tenacity as political fighter

To those who know him casually, Denis Foley is an unlikely Ansbacher account holder. At first glance, he appears to be a quintessential rural Fianna Fail TD: a teetotaller, who wears the pin of the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association on his lapel, a non-smoker, a conservative Catholic.

His lifestyle has always been modest. Although popular with his political colleagues, he rarely socialises with them, opting for a cup of tea in the Ballsbridge guesthouse where he stays while attending the Dail, rather than a late-night drink in Jurys Hotel, where TDs and senators gather to discuss political matters. They are stunned by this week's revelations. Mr Foley, they say, was the last public representative they would have suspected of holding an offshore account. In his North Kerry constituency, which he has represented in the Oireachtas since 1981, there is also considerable surprise. A voter survey by the Kerryman this week revealed little sympathy for Mr Foley. A strong supporter, Tralee councillor Johnny Wall, said: "He might have paid tax on the £50,000 he invested. He might have invested his money more wisely. He could have put it in the Post Office. Maybe what he did wasn't the wise thing to do."

Kerry voters know that there has always been more to their TD than the Dublin media image of a simple rural politician. Mr Foley (65) was typical of a new breed of Fianna Fail politician in the 1960s. He grew up in modest circumstances in postwar Ireland, and was keen to avail of the fruits of the economic swing of the 1960s. The Kerry of Mr Foley's youth and early manhood was an economic wasteland, as towns and parishes saw their young take the emigrant trail to England and America. A second-level education probably saved him from emigration. His first job was in a hardware business, and he later became a rate collector with Tralee Urban Council. When he married Hannah O'Halloran, they bought a large property in Staughton's Row, Tralee, which became not only the family home but a thriving guesthouse. In time, he would acquire property near his hlome, and today he has an income outside of politics from three shops and accommodation. Some local estimates put a value of close to £1 million on his property. The Foleys gained a reputation for treating their guests well and their premises was a popular place for tourists and young people moving to Tralee to take up employment, as the local economy improved in the 1960s.

By then, Mr Foley was heavily involved in Fianna Fail, his eyes firmly set on a Dail seat. Although publicly sympathetic to the ideology of the party's founding father, Eamon de Valera, he was privately more in tune with the pragmatism of Sean Lemass. It was Lemass, as Taoiseach, who officially opened the Mount Brandon Hotel, not far from Mr Foley's home, in the early 1960s. John Byrne, the well-known Kerryborn businessman, was a major shareholder.

THE hotel symbolised 1960s Ireland. It had a large lounge bar and an equally big and modern ballroom, which replaced the small rural halls as a popular dance venue. It was the era of the showbands. Dancing became a major industry, mostly run through cash transactions. Even the big bands were paid in cash. The hotel had a whiff of glamour, and the American actress Jayne Mansfield was hired to appear in cabaret there in 1967. The then Bishop of Kerry, Dr Denis Moynihan, and local clergy objected to Ms Mansfield because she had boasted that her New York critics said she sold sex better than any other performer in the world. The act was cancelled, Ms Mansfield claiming that she had forgotten her music notes.

Shortly after the hotel opened, Mr Byrne asked Mr Foley to manage the ballroom and later the Central Ballroom in Ballybunion. He was to become a close associate of Mr Byrne and a regular caller to the businessman's holiday home overlooking Fenit bay, where Charles Haughey sometimes stayed. However, Mr Foley was never regarded as politically close to Mr Haughey. In the mid-1960s, Mr Foley was paid £480 to manage the ballroom, which went through the hotel's accounts. Later, he was paid an extra £1,000 a year which was not declared to the Revenue. In the mid-1970s, he met the hotel's accountant, Mr Des Traynor, who told him he could secure Mr Foley "a good arrangement" through Guinness & Mahon. By 1979, Mr Foley had £50,000, a fortune in the Tralee of the time, to invest, and he told Mr Traynor he wanted to secure the best rate possible. Mr Foley had begun a journey which took him to Dublin Castle this week.

He was, by then, in sight of a Dail seat. He contested the 1977 general election, his transfers helping to secure two Fianna Fail seats won by Tom McEllistrim, part of a political dynasty stretching back to the 1920s, and a close associate of Mr Haughey, and Kit Ahern, a former senator. Mr Foley and Mr McEllistrim were set for a head-on collision. Both shared the same Tralee base, and, ultimately, there would be room for only one Fianna Fail TD in the area. Both were elected to the Dail in 1981, intensifying a bitter local battle, which later saw them each serving a term in the Seanad before returning to the Dail. In the end, Mr Foley emerged the victor, securing in the last election the party's only seat in the constituency. Nationally, he has been overshadowed by the high profiles of local Labour TD and former Tanaiste Dick Spring and the former Fine Gael minister of state, Jimmy Deenihan.

The Foley-McEllistrim battle has entered another generation. Tom McEllistrim jnr, a county councillor, and Mr Foley's daughter, Norma, chairwoman of Tralee Urban Council, will be among those battling for a nomination at the next general election convention. Time will tell what impact this week's revelations will have on Ms Foley's political career.