Dr. Elaine Byrne:

Yes, Garrett FitzGerald. AIB wrote off debts of almost £200,000 in 1993. That followed the collapse of aircraft leasing company GPA, Guinness Peat Aviation, in which he was a shareholder.

His write-off, by contrast with that of Taoiseach Charles Haughey, occurred after he had left politics, six years after he had been Taoiseach and a year after he had retired from backbench politics. That matter, the write-down of Garret FitzGerald's £200,000 debt by AIB, was investigated by the Moriarty tribunal which made the contrast between Garret FitzGerald and Charles J. Haughey. Charles J. Haughey largely kept all of his assets virtually intact, while Garret FitzGerald sold his family home and virtually everything else he owned in a bid to pay off the money he owed.