Loan money collected 'with good intent'

Brennan collection:Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has said he was not aware that the late Gerry Brennan, his solicitor, was making a collection among his friends to cover his legal expenses.

The Mahon tribunal had heard that Mr Brennan and former Fianna Fáil fundraiser Des Richardson raised £22,500 for Mr Ahern to cover the legal expenses associated with Mr Ahern's marital separation in late 1983.

Counsel for the tribunal Des O'Neill SC suggested that Mr Brennan was in "serious breach of his professional obligations" to Mr Ahern by discussing his situation with his friends.

Mr Ahern replied that everybody already knew.

"It was commonly known who was representing me in the High Court case and it was commonly known who was representing my wife," Mr Ahern said.

He said there had been speculation about it in the press and that the day he walked into court to deal with the matter, a garda on the fourth floor of the court was able to tell him he was expecting Mr Ahern.

He said Mr Brennan was a close friend, as well as his solicitor, and he trusted him.

Tribunal chairman Judge Alan Mahon asked Mr Ahern if he had any concerns about Mr Brennan talking to his friends about his legal bill.

Mr Ahern repeated that it was known already.

"I wouldn't like it to sound as if he was out there telling, and nobody knew about it," he said. "Not only my friends, plenty of my political enemies knew about it too."

He was not aware that his friends were having conversations about his legal bills at the time.

"If they were all here today, I'm sure they were sorry that they ever talked about it and if they had asked me I would have told them don't," Mr Ahern said.

He said Mr Brennan did not charge him "anything like he could have".

Mr O'Neill asked why, if his bills amounted to just under £18,000, Mr Brennan collected £22,500. Mr Ahern said that if Mr Brennan had charged his full fee, it would have been nearer £22,000.

Mr O'Neill asked Mr Ahern if he had discussed how he would pay the legal bill with Mr Brennan.

"The day I had that discussion was St Stephen's Day," Mr Ahern said. "I sent the drafts to his office, I didn't speak to him until the 27th."

He said Mr Brennan did not pay over the drafts to the legal team until January 11th.

Mr O'Neill said that when Mr Brennan got the drafts, it was "inconceivable" that he would not have sought Mr Ahern's advice about what to do with them, given that he now had the cash to cover the bills.

"It is totally conceivable," Mr Ahern replied. "To cancel the drafts, that's inconceivable in my view."

Judge Mahon asked if Mr Brennan suggested that Mr Ahern pay back the bank loan with the money from his friends. Mr Ahern said there was no discussion.

Judge Mary Faherty asked the Taoiseach if, given that he effectively had two loans amounting to £41,000, did he consider he was burdened.

"I would rather it wasn't collected at all for me, but the fact is it was, and it was done with good intent by the people concerned," Mr Ahern said.

"It wasn't perhaps an arduous loan that I knew I'd have to pay back in the short term."