Ahern says he paid 'full market value' for Dublin house

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has confirmed he bought his house in Dublin from a man who was at a function in Manchester where he received £8,000 sterling from a group of businessmen.

However, Mr Ahern insisted in the Dáil this morning that the seller of the house, Michael Wall, was not one of the group of 25 men who gave him money at that reception.

Mr Ahern returned to the Dáil under Opposition pressure after it emerged Mr Ahern did not name Mr Wall in the Dáil as one of those who attended the dinner even though Mr Wall had spoken to an RTÉ reporter earlier in the week, when he said that he had been at the event.

Mr Ahern said today he bought the house, on Beresford Avenue off Griffith Avenue, in Drumcondra, from Mr Wall in late 1997. He had rented it for the previous two years.

Mr Wall, from Cong in Co Mayo, purchased the house in March, 1995. The Taoiseach said he understood Mr Wall made a 30 per cent profit on the deal.

"I paid full market value for the house," he said. Mr Ahern said he funded the purchase with a loan from the Irish Permanent, all stamp duties and relevant taxes were paid in full from his current account and the deposit was paid with savings from a building society deposit account.

Mr Ahern said he has furnished the planning tribunal with full details of the house purchase, as had Mr Wall. The Dáil heard he did not raise the issue of his house in previous statements because he did not believe it was under investigation by the tribunal.

Mr Ahern acknowledged that Mr Wall was at the function in Manchester. However, he said he was only there in a professional capacity as a mini-bus driver. "He did not eat the dinner," and was not one of the 25 people who gave him money.

In response to a question from Sinn Fein's Caoimhín Ó Caoiláin on what details the Progressive Democrats knew of Mr Ahern's affairs, he said: "They didn't know about Michael Wall because I never told them who I bought my house from.

"Did I tell the Progressive Democrats ... was I dealing with the tribunal? Yes I did. Did I tell the Progressive Democrats that I got loans from friends? Yes I did. Did I tell them about Michael Wall? No I didn't."

The Taoiseach again came under pressure from the Opposition to reveal the names of all 25 people who contributed to the pool of money given to him in Manchester.

So far, Mr Ahern has publicly named just two people who attended the event: the late Tim Kilroe, in whose hotel the event took place, and John Kennedy, who had earlier publicly stated that he was there.

Mr Ahern said it was "impossible" to pin down exactly who was at which of the many functions he has attended in the city over the years. "I wasn't able to pin down exactly . . . without being able to talk to them, who exactly was at that function," he said.

The reason he has not so far produced a list of names was that he did not "want to name someone by mistake and then be accused of misleading the House".

Earlier, Labour Party deputy leader Liz McManus said it was "beyond belief" that Mr Ahern was incapable of remembering the name of Mr Wall prior to the latest revelations in the media. "That does not stack up," she said.

"The Taoiseach has got to tell us now who was at that dinner and does he have any record of any business transactions with anyone at those dinners," she said. "Until the Taoiseach is honest and forthright in his answers, these issues are going to continue on and on."

Green Party leader Trevor Sargent accused the Taoiseach of "holding back" on information during his previous statements to the Dáil. He said if Mr Ahern had bought his house at anything less than market value, it would "be tantamount to a form of donation."

"We need standards in Government which we can all stand over and be proud of and that's not the case as we speak," Mr Sargent said.

Mr Ó Caoiláin asked Mr Ahern when the PDs became aware of "all that was coming down the track" about his financial affairs. He claimed former tánaiste Mary Harney knew what was coming and that was the "genesis" of her decision to resign as leader of the party.

Joe Higgins, on behalf of the technical group, said the Taoiseach was in his current situation "because of his own failure to be frank with the people" when he made his  Dáil statement last Tuesday.

Last night Fine Gael said Mr Ahern's failure to tell the Dáil of his connection with Mr Wall had cast serious doubt on his statement on Tuesday.