Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

If a copy of the code of conduct is not in the Oireachtas Library, it is not a secret document. The code applies to office holders, namely the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste, Ministers and Ministers of State, the Chair and Deputy Chair of the Dáil and the Seanad. It is a public document and I think there is a copy in the Oireachtas Library.

With regard to the other question which I have been asked a number of times, this issue arose in 1995 when the new legislation was enacted and in 1997 and 2001. I would have been required under the law to declare those issues and I would have had no difficulty doing so. To be frank, I would not have lodged those moneys into what is the busiest bank in the main street of the capital of the country, one of the busiest branches of Allied Irish Bank, if I thought there was anything wrong in doing so. There would be a million ways for somebody who wanted to do something wrong. I was totally up-front in what I did because I saw nothing wrong and that is the reason I lodged the money into my bank account.

I have already admitted that, with regard to the Manchester money, it may have been unwise at the time. Even now, until this legislation is changed, the receipt of money from personal friends is not in any way wrong, illegal, unjust or improper. I received the money on the basis of loans that I would repay and not on the basis that the money was a gift that I would never repay. I received it at a time of difficulty, during a short period in 1994-95 and that was the basis for repayment, which is what I did. It was not a question of receiving money from some dodgy source or somebody with whom I was not acquainted. These are people with whom I have been associated for 30 years. They are friends and not even political friends. Some of them have been friends of mine since our school days. The Deputy has asked a fair question, but I do not regard what I did as wrong. If the Deputy asked whether I would have been better off if I did not accept the money, I would agree. Having been dealing with the issue for seven and a half years, I agree it would have been better, but I do not regard it as something that was wrong of me to do.

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