Ahern to return to give further tribunal evidence

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern returns to the witness box today for further questioning by the Mahon tribunal about cash lodgements to his accounts in the 1990s.

Tribunal counsel Des O'Neill SC is conducting an examination of Mr Ahern concerning four cash lodgements in 1994 and 1995 of amounts totalling £84,495. At the time Mr Ahern's salary as minister for finance was £42,000.

All the lodgements were preceded by foreign exchange transactions. The tribunal has deferred to a later date questions about other financial transactions involving Mr Ahern during approximately the same period, as well as the purchase of his home from Manchester-based businessman Michael Wall in 1997.

Mr Ahern is scheduled to give evidence between 10am and 5pm today.

This extended sitting by the tribunal is designed to allow Mr Ahern complete his evidence on the four lodgements.

Mr Ahern is scheduled to travel to France tomorrow, where he is to meet with new French president Nicolas Sarkozy, and to attend the Ireland versus France rugby fixture at the Stade de France.

Last week Mr Ahern gave evidence on Thursday and Friday.

During the sittings Mr O'Neill read into the record the protracted correspondence between Mr Ahern and the tribunal over a 2½-year period.

It was only at the end of this period that Mr Ahern revealed that some of the lodgements being inquired into had been preceded by foreign exchange transactions.