Bertie's few bob

In his television interview, An Taoiseach clearly indicated that he purchased his current house for 'closer to €200,000' and obtained a mortgage to do so after the 93/94 period during which he received €50,000 in the form of what he has described as a 'loan'. As anyone who has borrowed money from the banks will know the banks require you to indicate if you have any other outstanding loans that may impact on your ability to make your repayments.

Surely, if the money An Taoiseach received was a loan then the bank will have a clear record of this fact. If they do not possess such records it is because it was not a loan or he lied to the bank when making his mortgage application. He either lied to them then or is lying to us now. And it is unusual for someone to be required to provide a lump sum for something like their children’s education in a separation settlement. It would be more the norm to require them to provide that amount when the children require it.

It is hard to believe that An Taoiseach feels that he could as minister for Finance be speaking about the Irish economy in a personal capacity at any time while he was a minister. That he was telling business people domiciled outside the state about what he thought was going to happen in the Irish economy (which is what Senator Tom Kett helpfully has told us Bertie was doing instead of having the craic), receiving money for doing so and yet sees nothing wrong with doing so is beyond GUBU.