Daughter tells of butcher's loan to Ahern

Mahon tribunal:The daughter of a deceased Dublin butcher told the tribunal yesterday that her mother confirmed a loan to Taoiseach Bertie Ahern of £2,500 in 1993, as part of a dig-out among friends.

Margaret Gaffney, the daughter of the late Paddy Reilly, who had a butcher shop on Aughrim Street on the city's northside, said when her mother was repaid by Mr Ahern in 2006, she said "thank God for Bertie, now I can bury myself".

Mr Reilly's contribution was part of a £22,500 whip-around organised by former Fianna Fáil fundraiser Des Richardson and the late Gerry Brennan, solicitor to Mr Ahern.

The other contributors were Mr Richardson, Charlie Chawke, Padraic O'Connor, Dave McKenna, Jim Nugent, the late Fintan Gunne and Michael Collins. The money was raised to cover Mr Ahern's legal expenses associated with his marital separation, the tribunal has been told.

Mr Reilly was a Fianna Fáil constituency worker, a trustee of St Luke's, Mr Ahern's constituency office, and a long-standing friend of Mr Ahern, Ms Gaffney said. Mr Ahern attended her wedding and when he was canvassing, the group would congregate at her father's shop, she said.

Ms Gaffney said her mother, who is terminally ill, had always known of the loan to Mr Ahern. "My father was very private, if he was dealing with people he would have kept it to himself," she said. "My mother would always have been part of any decisions he made."

Mr Ahern attended her father's funeral, in August 1996, she said. He did not talk to her about the loan, but may have discussed it with her mother.

However, he did not repay the loan at the time and did not contact the family to warn them that Mr Reilly's name was mentioned in a report to the tribunal furnished in 2006 or in a television interview in September that year.

Counsel for the tribunal, Henry Murphy SC asked Ms Gaffney if Mr Ahern had ever called to apologise for having to mention Mr Reilly on television.

She said he had not. The first Ms Gaffney became aware of the loan, was when the matter became public. She said she watched Mr Ahern's television interview in September 2006, but was not sure if the Paddy Reilly referred to was her father or Paddy "the Plasterer".

When the repayment cheque arrived, for €5,914, her mother was delighted, Ms Gaffney said.

"I remember her saying 'thank God for Bertie, now I can bury myself'," she said. The cheque was lodged to the credit union and no one suggested to her that it should be donated to the Cari Foundation, where other contributors had sent their cheques, Ms Gaffney said.