FF trustees may discuss party funds issues arising from Mahon

THE TRUSTEES of Fianna Fáil have not been officially notified of any potential difficulty in relation to party funds arising from the evidence to the Mahon tribunal of the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.

Long-time trustee Michael O'Kennedy SC said the trustees would be having a meeting next month. "As of now that issue has not arisen for us. I'm not saying it won't be considered at our next meeting. Considering my legal and fiduciary duties [ as a trustee], it is a matter I am quite aware of."

The trustees are Mr Ahern, Mr O'Kennedy and Rich Howlin.

Mr O'Kennedy said that as of now he had no official knowledge "qua trustee" as to what had been disclosed at the tribunal, though he had been reading newspaper reports. "I'm not saying that in time I may not have knowledge . . . I expect that after the meeting I will be aware of it, but I don't know."

Mr O'Kennedy said that whenever "any matter of this nature comes up", the trustees can be informed of it by way of the reports they receive from officials at party head office. The trustees can also raise issues of their own volition.

"I won't speculate but if we were of the view that funds which were attributable to the party hadn't been transferred to the party, it would obviously be something we would look at."

He said the trustees had in the past sought information in situations where they were concerned that funds apparently intended for the party had not been forwarded to it. He said he was party to the decision to write to the former EU commissioner and minister, Pádraig Flynn, in 1998, after Tom Gilmartin alleged he had given £50,000 to Mr Flynn for the party. The money was not passed on to the party.

Mr O'Kennedy said that, as far as he was aware, the letter to Mr Flynn had never received a reply.

The matter may be raised at the March meeting. "As I perceive it, the matter doesn't just lie there."

Mr O'Kennedy said that, by and large, money given to constituency organisations did not concern the national party trustees. "They have trustees and treasurers at their own level."

The issues to do with party money and the Taoiseach come from direct evidence rather than allegations. However, the money concerned appears to be constituency money rather than money intended for the national party.

The former managing director of NCB, Padraic O'Connor, has said a £5,000 contribution he authorised in 1993 was issued after a request from Des Richardson for a donation to Ahern's constituency operation.

At the time, Mr Richardson was a full-time national fund-raiser for Fianna Fáil, as well as a trustee and fundraiser associated with Mr Ahern's O'Donovan Rossa cumann in Dublin Central.

Mr Ahern has said a £5,000 cheque lodged to a building society account in 1994 was a "political donation for personal use". He did not pay tax on the money at the time. The money, from an unknown source, went towards the purchase of the Taoiseach's current home.

The third item that has arisen at the tribunal concerns £30,000 given in 1993 to the Taoiseach's then partner, Celia Larkin, from an account in the name "B/T", controlled by Tim Collins, another trustee associated with Mr Ahern's cumann. Mr Ahern has said the account held money intended for his constituency operation.

Ms Larkin used the money to buy a house in Dublin that she still owns. The tribunal has been told that at the time of the purchase, the owner of the house was considering selling it, and that two of Ms Larkin's relatives had been living in it for decades. Ms Larkin has in recent weeks repaid the money to the Dublin Central constituency, with interest.

As a result of a recent newspaper report, Fianna Fáil last week said that funds arising from the sale of a Fianna Fáil Dublin Central property on Amiens Street in 1989 were still on deposit in an account where they were lodged after the sale.

"The proceeds of the sale of Amiens St that accrued to Dublin Central were lodged in a FF party account for that constituency and those funds are in the control of the Dublin Central Fianna Fáil organisation," a party spokesman said. Mr Ahern was one of three trustees involved in the sale of the property.

Mr Collins, Mr Richardson and Joe Burke are the three surviving trustees of the trust that owns and runs Mr Ahern's constituency centre, St Luke's, on behalf of the O'Donovan Rossa cumann.