Ahern says O'Connor money was a loan

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern insisted that the money he received from Pádraic O'Connor was a loan.

Mr Ahern said that he had thanked Mr O'Connor. "I have no doubt about that, no doubt whatever about that." He had accepted the money on the basis that it was a loan.

Pressed by Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny to say when he had thanked Mr O'Connor, the Taoiseach replied: "My position is as it was. Yes, it is my absolute belief that I did thank Pádraic O'Connor in January 1994.

"The individual who gave me . . . and I accepted it on a loan basis, I think as you know, was to pay the cost of my legal separation.

"I think you know that's what it is . . . If Deputy Kenny is asking me to try and embarrass me, I will try and do it anyway."

Mr Ahern was repeatedly pressed by Labour leader Eamon Gilmore to say when he would be before the Mahon tribunal again.

Mr Ahern said that he had already said he would be before the tribunal on December 20th and 21st and other appearances were for the tribunal to decide.

Rounding on Mr Gilmore, the Taoiseach asked: "Are you deaf as well as stupid?"

Mr Kenny said that the sad fact of the matter was that the public had not been given credible explanations by the Taoiseach.

"As I said earlier today, the Irish public are a forgiving people, but they should not be taken for fools." If it went on, Mr Ahern's reputation as the leader of the country would be torn to shreds.

"People don't believe you. They cannot assimilate what these contradictory statements are." Mr Kenny said that "the credibility of the Taoiseach as leader of the country is being torn to shreds by contradictions in statements made by himself, in the House and other locations".

The Taoiseach, he said, could accept as a fact that a £5,000 donation ended up in his personal account.

He added that Mr Ahern had told Bryan Dobson in an RTÉ interview that he accepted the money from Mr O'Connor as a loan, a debt of honour.

He had told the Mahon tribunal that he had thanked Mr O'Connor for the money and that he had offered to repay it.

Mr Gilmore said that what had been heard over the past week further undermined the Taoiseach's credibility and eroded his authority.

He added that Mr O'Connor had given "sworn evidence which tears apart the carefully constructed account of the dig-outs".

Mr Gilmore said there had been claims from the former chairman of the National Lottery that as minister for finance Mr Ahern approved the involvement of the lottery in the plan to build a casino in the Phoenix Park at a time when he was publicly opposing the project.

At the same time, said Mr Gilmore, a "Fianna Fáil fundraiser, and the Taoiseach's own personal fundraiser, was accepting a donation from one of the promoters of the project, coincidentally in dollars and coincidentally in Manchester".

Mr Gilmore suggested that Mr Ahern's time was being taken up by preparing for the tribunal, but Mr Ahern insisted that his credibility and authority as Taoiseach were not affected.

He said that he had publicly opposed the casino in an interview with Pat Kenny on RTÉ radio.

He had acted properly. Department of Finance officials had confirmed, "totally and comprehensively", that he in no way interfered improperly in the issue.