Tribunal to question Celia Larkin on £30,000 loan

CELIA LARKIN, ex-partner to former taoiseach Bertie Ahern, is to appear at the Mahon tribunal today.

She is likely to face questioning about a £30,000 loan she was given from an account associated with the trustees of St Luke’s, Mr Ahern’s constituency office in Drumcondra.

The loan was paid out in 1993 from the B/T account, opened at what was the Irish Permanent Building Society in Drumcondra by St Luke’s trustee Tim Collins.

The proceeds of the account were to be used for the upkeep of St Luke’s, the tribunal was told.

However, the trustees agreed to give Ms Larkin a loan so that she could buy the house in which her elderly aunts were living.

At the time, the tribunal was told, the aunts were at risk of eviction. Ms Larkin repaid the loan in January 2008, after the tribunal began its investigations into the B/T account.

On the last occasion Ms Larkin took the stand, in September 2007, she told the tribunal of her part in the acquisition of Mr Ahern’s home on Beresford Avenue in Drumcondra.

The house was purchased by a friend of Mr Ahern, Manchester-based businessman Micheál Wall, in 1995, and Mr Ahern rented it for two years before buying it from him.

In 1995, Ms Larkin put almost £30,000, given to Mr Ahern by Mr Wall, into an account in her name in AIB, O’Connell Street. The money was to be spent by Ms Larkin on improvements to the house. The tribunal had queried whether the money might not have been $45,000, given the conversion rates at the time.

Ms Larkin’s evidence will precede that of Mr Ahern, who is due to take the stand tomorrow and on Thursday and Friday.

Mr Ahern is likely to be questioned about his personal accounts and his interest in accounts associated with the Dublin Central constituency and with St Luke’s.

He may be asked about the B/T account, which bank staff have said was referred to as the “Bertie/Tim” account.

Mr Ahern may also be questioned about the purchase of St Luke’s, and about sterling lodgements made on his behalf to his account in the Irish Permanent Building Society in Drumcondra.

The lodgements were made by Mr Ahern’s former secretary, Gráinne Carruth, who took the stand in March and dramatically acknowledged that she had carried out the sterling transactions.