Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

It is my obligation as a Member of the House — notwithstanding the fact that I am an office holder — to act in such a manner. That I will continue to do so does not create any difficulty for me or distract me from my job, although it might mean I have to work longer and more demanding hours at times. That is how it has been and how it is likely to continue. I assure the House that I will continue to do that.

I remind Deputy Gilmore that I have addressed the issues I was asked to address and submitted the information I was asked to submit in response to certain questions. It was not the case that I did not have a bank account during the period in question, as the Deputy purports to allege. I have discovered details of over 20 bank accounts which were either in my name, my wife's name, the names of my children or the names of people with whom I was politically associated. There was a period, between the time when I separated from my wife to the time when the resulting judicial case was brought to a conclusion in the High Court, when I did not use my bank accounts in the normal way. I can accept that people will say that was unorthodox, but that is how it was. I have given all the factual information on that to the tribunal. The details of what happened are quite clear to the tribunal because it has all the records of the accounts. The tribunal knows how I dealt with my affairs during the period in question. I cannot change that. When I was issued with a discovery order relating to the period between the start of 1988, which is almost 20 years ago, and the end of 1995, which is almost 12 years ago, I complied with the order by providing all the information in question. When I was questioned on that information, I gave an account of it which I believe to be totally truthful. I cannot do any more than that and that is the position.

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