Reilly was not aware of earlier £22,500 dig-out

Paddy "the Plasterer" Reilly told the Mahon tribunal that he was not aware the Taoiseach had received a dig-out of £22,500 in 1993 when he contributed to another whip-around the following year.

Mr Reilly was one of four people who contributed a total of £16,500 to a collection for Bertie Ahern, made in September 1994.

Mr Reilly gave £3,500, publican Dermot Carew gave £4,500, chairman of the Dublin Port Authority Joe Burke contributed £3,500 and businessman Barry English gave £5,000.

Counsel for the tribunal Henry Murphy SC said that Mr Ahern had said, in an RTÉ interview in 2006, that the friends who contributed to the second collection were aware of the first 1993 collection and would have liked to contribute to that.

"Mr Ahern has told the country that he believed the four of you wanted to assist in the Christmas collection," Mr Murphy said. "What do you say to that?"

"I have no idea, I really don't understand that," Mr Reilly said.

He said he did not find out about the earlier dig-out until the tribunal became involved.

Mr Reilly told the tribunal he lived in Drumcondra since 1971, was a builder and plasterer and now ran a guesthouse in the city centre and owned a number of properties.

He knew Mr Ahern from about 1975. They were both active in Fianna Fáil and Mr Reilly canvassed for him in his first election in 1977 and "in every election since then".

Mr Reilly said he and Mr Ahern often met in Beaumont House, in Kennedy's and Fagan's and they also went to matches in Croke Park occasionally.

On the night the collection was made, in the Beaumont House pub, Mr Reilly said he was with "a group of friends drinking in a bar sorting out the problems of the world".

They may have been discussing football with Mr Ahern, he said, and after he left the conversation turned to Mr Ahern's living arrangements.

"There were stories going around that people needed to know where the minister slept at night - put around by people who wouldn't have his best interests at heart," he said.

Mr Murphy asked about the timing of the contribution. He said that in 1994, Mr Ahern had plenty of money, including £70,000 in two accounts.

"We know from his evidence and his bank accounts that he had plenty of money," Mr Murphy said. "Isn't that correct?"

"Well of course it's correct, if he said so," Mr Reilly replied.