Haughey to give further evidence at tribunal today

The former Taoiseach, Mr Charles Haughey, resumes his evidence at the Moriarty tribunal in Dublin Castle today.

The 74-year-old former Taoiseach is to continue answering questions concerning his relationship with AIB during the 1970s from counsel for the tribunal, Mr John Coughlan SC. The tribunal is asking Mr Haughey whether he has any difficulty with documents held on his AIB file showing his extensive involvement in relation to his dealings with the bank. Mr Haughey has stated that his financial affairs were managed by the late Mr Des Traynor from about 1960.

The tribunal is slowly going through the documents in the AIB file, and when evidence resumes today at 10.30 a.m., it is likely to consider documents from the mid-1970s.

In December, 1979, while Mr Haughey was contesting the leadership election in Fianna Fail, his colleague, the late Mr Traynor got involved in settling Mr Haughey's £1.1m overdraft with AIB. Following Mr Haughey's election as party leader and Taoiseach, the debt was settled with the payment of £750,000.

Evidence has already been heard that Mr Patrick Gallagher gave Mr Haughey £300,000 at around this time, but the identity of the donor of the other £450,000 is not yet known. Whether Mr Haughey has any information for the tribunal in this regard will be the key point of his evidence.

Mr Haughey is giving evidence for two hours each morning. Because he is the first witness heard by the tribunal who has not supplied a statement of intended evidence, there is no indication of what he will say in relation to the £750,000 settlement.

The tribunal will hear evidence from other witnesses this afternoon. It is due to sit again tomorrow, Thursday and Friday.