When he resumed giving evidence yesterday, Mr Charles Haughey seemed significantly more alert and capable than on Friday, absorbing the contents of documents easily and responding quickly, sometimes robustly, to questions put to him by counsel for the tribunal.
He seemed a decidedly different man to the one who, almost with his first utterance on Friday, protested that he was finding the examination of his financial affairs overwhelming and confusing.
The 74-year-old former Taoiseach began giving evidence soon after 10.40 a.m. and finished just before 1 p.m., straying over the two hours per morning agreement he has with the tribunal in deference to his age, his medical condition and the complexity of the material he is being asked to deal with.
He seemed to tire during the last half hour but all through his evidence he took issue with minor details contained in the bank documents the tribunal is examining, and with presumptions contained in questions put to him by Mr John Coughlan SC.
The tribunal is examining the content of documents in Mr Haughey's file with AIB Bank from the 1970s, to show how Mr Haughey was intimately involved in dealings with the bank. The crucial issue is the source of the £750,000 that was used to settle Mr Haughey's £1.1 million overdraft in December 1979/January 1980. He personally solicited £300,000 from the property developer Mr Patrick Gallagher, but it is not known where the rest of the money came from.
Yesterday, the tribunal considered documents from 1975 and 1976. By March 1976 Mr Haughey's overdraft was £146,125 and his income as a TD was £7,000. He spent £5,000 per annum on domestic staff and more again on staff for his stud farm. Despite having "no income" relative to his debts, Mr Haughey was a very rich man. He valued his house and estate in Kinsealy at £800,000 and the contents at £50,000. He had a 150-acre stud farm in Co Meath worth £200,000 and other assets worth a further £200,000 plus. Asked if there was any strategy for getting rid of his debts Mr Haughey said he had none, other than disposing of some of his assets at some stage.
During the early 1970s he was struggling to revive his political career, which had suffered a cataclysmic setback as a result of the Arms Crisis. "I was in the political wilderness", he said, and his "primary preoccupation" was rebuilding his political career. "I was not preoccupied with my financial affairs and I dealt with these matters when I had to."
His close friend and adviser, the late Mr Des Traynor, is first mentioned in the AIB documentation in a note of a meeting in February 1975 which Mr Traynor pulled out of because of the death of his father. Mr Traynor attended a meeting in March that was not attended by Mr Haughey. The bank was hugely concerned about Mr Haughey's overdraft and Mr Traynor's arrival on the scene can be seen as an indication of how serious the matter had become.
Mr Haughey's evidence is that after he severed his links with Haughey Boland & Co in 1960, Mr Traynor took charge of the firm's bill-paying service for him. "He was the partner who assumed and was particularly interested in my affairs."
In 1969 Mr Traynor left Haughey Boland for Guinness & Mahon bank, but continued to manage Mr Haughey's affairs, even in relation to the services provided by Haughey Boland. He gave Mr Haughey advice and, Mr Haughey said, would sometimes negotiate borrowings for him. He said a letter from him to AIB would most likely have been drafted by Mr Traynor and given to him to sign. The letter got the bank off Mr Haughey's back for a number of months, but the borrowings continued.
By September 1976 Mr Haughey's rehabilitation within Fianna Fail had been signalled in his appointment as Opposition spokesman on health. However, he was in greater trouble than ever with AIB and it had been decided his cheque book would be taken from him. A bank memo records that when a senior bank official asked Mr Haughey for his cheque book, Mr Haughey "became quite vicious", a description that Mr Haughey, who has a reputation for having an impressive temper, took issue with yesterday. A row ensued but when matters "settled down" afterwards Mr Haughey and the bankers discussed what could be done. Incredibly, it was decided an agreement would be put in place which involved giving Mr Haughey more money.
Mr Haughey continues giving evidence this morning. The tribunal is not sitting tomorrow and breaks for August on Friday. If matters don't speed up we may have to wait until September to find out what he has to say about the settlement of his overdraft in the weeks after he was first elected Taoiseach.