Wouldn't it be nice, the members of the audience listening to Mr Charles Haughey's testimony at the Moriarty tribunal yesterday must have thought, to have a man like Des Traynor in your life. No problem was too big or too small for Mr Haughey's financial adviser, it seemed.
Mr John Coughlan SC, for the tribunal, seemed puzzled that Mr Haughey had never felt it necessary to inquire of his friend how a debt of £750,000 was almost miraculously cleared.
"Because Des Traynor was that sort of man," responded Mr Haughey, causing a titter in the audience.
"He solved problems. He would say `Leave that to me. I will look after that.' Not only that, he was "the essence of discretion and confidentiality", said the former Taoiseach.
It must have been a great feeling to have just been appointed Taoiseach and to have somebody to sort out all the messy details such as a debt to AIB, which with interest came to around £1.3 million.
Mr Haughey had assumed Mr Traynor had raised the £750,000, used to pay the debt himself or provided it from "his own bank", Guinness & Mahon.
On his first day back giving evidence to the tribunal, Mr Haughey looked tanned and fit, if a little thinner, wearing a crisp blue shirt and navy suit. He wore new reading glasses with a heavier set frame and while he experienced some problems following files, he seemed quite relaxed. There were no protesters gathered in the upper yard of Dublin Castle to chant as he drove in (perhaps they stayed home because of the deluge).
Mr Haughey's "special account" was set up on the day he became Taoiseach on December 11th, 1979, and existed for about two months with the specific purpose of clearing his large debt, with lodgements of £150,000, £355,000 and £150,000.
On the day he was elected Taoiseach, £150,000 was deposited in the account, but as he pointed out to Mr Coughlan when asked about his knowledge of this, it had been a particularly busy time. "I'm sure that you will agree I had many other considerations on my mind. I would help the tribunal if I could."