Gary Heffernan is a long-time friend of the Haughey family and this week pronounced himself flattered to discover that his name was used by Celtic Helicopters as a cover name for Charles Haughey.

Mr Heffernan, an advertising director with DDFH&B Advertising, of Christchurch Square, Dublin, told The Irish Times he was "a bit put out" at first when he saw his name in the newspapers in relation to the Moriarty tribunal, but is not at all annoyed. He had no warning that his name was to be mentioned.

"I am a friend of the lads for about 25 years and for some reason or other they used my name as a codename and I'm flattered by that," Mr Heffernan said. He had nothing to do with Celtic Helicopters and did not use its services, he said.

Mr Heffernan, who is from Portmarnock, Co Dublin, was educated at St Paul's, Clontarf, where he met Conor Haughey. Mr Conor Haughey was best man at his wedding and he attended Mr Conor Haughey's wedding. "I'm a friend of Conor mostly but I know the family," he said.

Mr Ciaran Haughey, in evidence to the tribunal on Wednesday, said the name Gary Heffernan was used as "a cover name for my father". He said a £50,000 advance payment for flights with the company, entered in the company's books in 1992, came from his father. The same was true of a further £3,800 paid at the same time. The money came from the Ansbacher deposits. Mr Heffernan said the money was not his.

The matter was raised by Mr Ciaran Haughey when he returned to evidence he gave to the McCracken (Dunnes Payments) tribunal in 1997. The chairman of that tribunal, Mr Justice McCracken, said he could not accept evidence from Mr Ciaran Haughey where he had said he was not aware that a £153,000 loan from Irish Intercontinental Bank (IIB), had been repaid with "third party" as against company funds.

The loan was repaid in February 1992 with money from the Ansbacher deposits. Mr Ciaran Haughey and his partner in Celtic Helicopters, Mr John Barnicle, told the Moriarty tribunal this week that the £153,000 was paid to the company in February 1992 and then used to clear the loan with IIB.

They said £100,000 of the sum was paid to the company by Mr Traynor. Because the company was in financial difficulties, Mr Traynor offered to buy an insurance claim which the company had initiated against a company which had hired and then crashed one of its helicopters. The claim was worth about £100,000, if entirely successful.

It emerged in evidence that the claim is still being processed and that nothing exists in writing to show the claim had been assigned to Mr Traynor in return for £100,000. It also emerged that until recently the parties involved in processing the claim, Mike Murphy Insurance Brokers Ltd, and Mr Gerald Kean, of Kean Solicitors, did not know the claim had been assigned to the late Mr Traynor. Mr Traynor's estate was never informed.

The other £53,000 used to pay off the loan came from the prebooking of helicopter flights by Mr Charles Haughey. This was recorded in the company's books under the name Gary Heffernan. Mr Ciaran Haughey said he did not know the details of these various transactions when giving evidence in 1997 but they had been explained to him since then by Mr Barnicle.