The last of the persons named as having contributed to two “dig-outs” for the former taoiseach Bertie Ahern has given evidence to the Mahon tribunal.
Michael Collins (68), with an address in Sydney, Australia, told the tribunal he had not cashed a cheque for €5,914 he received from Mr Ahern in December 2006 and which he said was the repayment of the money he had given to Mr Ahern in December 1993.
He said Mr Ahern did not explain why the money was returned and that he did not cash the cheque. “Personally I wasn’t expecting to get it back.”
Mr Collins said he made the payment because he was told Mr Ahern had financial difficulties and decided to contribute to a collection for his benefit.
Last week Mr Ahern told the tribunal about betting wins he had in the early 1990s. Tribunal counsel Des O’Neill SC asked Mr Collins if he was “aware of [Mr Ahern's] successes on the horses” in the early 1990s.
Mr Collins said he was friendly with Mr Ahern but had never gone to the races with him. Nor, he said in response to Mr O’Neill, did he know that Mr Ahern had a practice of going to Manchester for weekends with thousands of pounds in cash “in his pockets”.
He said he first met Mr Ahern in 1980. Asked if he had ever seen him short of cash, Mr Collins replied: “Not really, no.”
Mr Collins said he was a former business partner involved in the recruitment business with Mr Ahern’s friend and associate Des Richardson. He said that during a conversation in the Berkeley Court Hotel in Dublin in 1993, Mr Richardson asked if he would contribute to a fundraising exercise designed to raise funds for Mr Ahern personally. At the time he was no longer in business with Mr Richardson.
He said that Mr Richardson told him “Bertie was having a hard time financially, probably due to his separation or whatever.” He could not recall the exact words.
Mr Collins said he subsequently handed £2,500 in cash to Mr Richardson. The figure was suggested by Mr Richardson. “I understood there were other people possibly going to contribute,” Mr Collins said, but he didn’t know their identities.
Mr Collins said the idea was to present Mr Ahern with cash. He had no banking record to show his contribution. “I would have a float in my safe,” Mr Collins said.
He said he did not consider the payment to be a loan when he made it, but he was telephoned a few months later by Mr Ahern, who said he was accepting the money on the basis it was a loan.
Mr Collins said he was not part of a close circle of Mr Ahern’s friends. “My association with Bertie was generally in association with Des Richardson, who was, or became, a very close friend of Bertie’s.” Mr Collins said he moved to Australia five or six years ago.