Taoiseach reveals details of house purchase to newspaper
Details of the Taoiseach's controversial purchase of a house in Drumcondra in 1997 have been revealed in one of today's newspapers.
The Sunday Independent published an account from Bertie Ahern - ahead of his planned public statement - in which he claims that many of the matters being investigated by the Mahon Tribunal relate to his marital separation and uncertainty in his political career.
The Taoiseach is widely expected to make a full public statement on his personal finances in the next day or two, following pressure from his coalition partners the PDs.
The paper quotes an exclusive statement from Bertie Ahern, claiming that the reasons why he was renting a house in the 1990s, why his friends gave him money and why he had no bank account for several years are all to do with his marital separation.
He reveals documentary evidence accounting for almost USD$45,000 spent by himself and Manchester businessman Michael Wall renovating the house in Drumcondra which he rented from 1995 to 1997.
He says it was a period of great personal turmoil for him, and that he always intended to buy the house when his political future was secure.
And the Taoiseach denies that any sum worth the equivalent of USD$45,000 was lodged to the account of his former partner Celia Larkin.
