Mother and brother gave total of £12,000 to Bertie
Bertie Ahern pictured with his mother Julia, deceased, and his brothers Noel Ahern and Maurice Ahern
Bertie Ahern got IR£12,000 from his mother and brother following the death of his father, he said yesterday.
The Taoiseach told the Mahon Tribunal he got IR£7,000 from his late mother, Julia, in March 1994 and another IR£5,000 from one of his brothers in December 1995.
But he said he told the Revenue Commissioners that the IR£5,000 was a political donation because he could not trace the record of the payment from his brother, which he believed was at the end of December 1995.
On the money he had received from his mother, the Taoiseach said he didn't ask his mother where the money came from.
"I didn't ask my mother where she got it, to be quite honest with you, and I can't ask her now," he said.
Mr Ahern said his mother took over the family account following the death of his father, Con, in 1990.
But he then turned on the tribunal's line of questions.
"Well Judge, do I have to explain how my mother and father dealt with their affairs?" Mr Ahern asked angrily.
Tribunal Chairman Alan Mahon said the inquiry didn't want the Taoiseach to have to explain this in public.
Mr O'Neill said in 2006 the Taoiseach had instructed his solicitors the money which he got from his mother was related to the estate of his late father.
He said the Taoiseach lodged IR£5,000 to his Irish Permanent Building Society Account on December 21, 1995, and believed this had come from a family member. Mr Ahern told the Revenue Commissioners it was a political donation.
The Taoiseach said his problem was he could not be certain this IR£5,000 had come from his brother. The money his brother gave him would most certainly not be a political donation, Mr Ahern said. But he told Revenue it might be a political donation as he had no records to prove otherwise.
"We have checked, we tried, the problem is there are no records," he added.
Mr Ahern said, when he had time, he continued to check and try and identify all payments and he had gone back to 1984.
"We have tried our best to match up the lodgements, I cannot prove that the IR£5,000 lodged in December 1995 is the money I got from my brother, my belief is that it is, but until I have evidence I can't say that," he added.
- Lorna Reid and Fergus Black
