Bertie Ahern: Good deal or bad deal for people of Ireland

I am certainly not a 'holier than thou' but I'd like to know why an educated man, an experienced politician and an ex Lord Mayor of Dublin, felt the need to keep his money under a mattress...metaphorical or not!! It's a straight forward question...was he trying to keep this amount hidden during the period he was separating from his wife? Did he keep this money in an account under someone else's name? Where did he get this money if he was so strapped that he had to sleep on a mattress in his office? Was this just to keep tabs on his money? Or was he homeless? Where were all these generous friends when he needed a bed?

Sherib, I think you protest too much. A politician's life is always open to public scrutiny and they tacitly, if not overtly, agree to that when they take on the role. Nobody expects him to talk about his sex life, his childrens' reaction to the divorce, private conversations with his ex etc. but we DO expect him to explain where, when, why and how he came by such an amount of money. We DO expect to ask and be told whether tax was due and paid. And if you don't.....then you should!! We get the politicians we deserve.
 
Originally posted by liteweight
Sherib, I think you protest too much.
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You're entitled to your opinion but there's no need to get personal


Referring to his €/£50,000 savings: who knows? - that would be between him, his wife and their legal representatives IMO; none of my business or anyone else's. If it was concealed from his wife, no doubt there's a letter from the Solicitors winging its way as I write this! Apart from reading it here, I'm not aware that anyone has demanded to know how he had savings or raised any question about their legality. It seems that good old Irish begrudgery is alive and well.
 

sherib - Can you tell us where and when you heard Bertie say this? I think you are mistaken. The legal bill was paid by a bank loan from AIB.

As Bertie said in his infamous interview -

It was, they, they knew, a good few of them knew that I had taken out a loan with AIB in O'Connell Street to settle my legal bills. I had taken out the loan so I actually used the loan to settle the bills.
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As for the savings, and the more I read of this, the more intriguing it becomes, here is what happened to the £50,000 savings he had (in Berties own words from that interview again).


Do I understand it then that the £50,000 that was lodged in 1994 when Bertie finally got his own personal bank account was actually the money that he got from his friends, plus whatever was left over from his original savings back to 1996?

sherib said:
I have no difficulty in believing the £50,000 were honest savings unless shown to be otherwise.
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Neither do I. But there's enough questions and doubt over his activities at that time for the question to be legitimately asked. And if Bertie has nothing to hide, let him answer the question properly and truthfully.
 
liteweight said:
Where were all these generous friends when he needed a bed?
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Exactly? How close were these friends? Did he go to sports events with them, have a few pints with them at the weekend, go on holiday with them, was he on the phone to them regularly. How close were these friends?
 
sherib said:
You're entitled to your opinion but there's no need to get personal
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Was I being personal? Sorry.



Referring to his €/£50,000 savings: who knows? - that would be between him, his wife and their legal representatives IMO; none of my business or anyone else's.
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If he's in charge of the finances of the country and therefore MY finances. then it definitely is my business and yours and every other citizens'. Of course I want to know where he got it from......maybe some of it is mine!! If I move more than 5K in the bank there are questions asked. When I try to buy a house I have to fill out a form for the CAB. Why should Bertie be any different?


It seems that good old Irish begrudgery is alive and well.
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I hope you're not implying I'm a begrudger? Thought you didn't like to get personal? I don't begrudge Bertie anything as long as he's honest. I've a right to question what went on and to call it begrudgery is just another form of 'put down' in order to keep people silent on the subject.
 
You're absolutely right Liteweight. Why shouldn't you ask the questions. What class of a SIN is it? As I've said in a separate thread, Gawd help us but we certainly do get the Government that some of these posters deserve. It reminds me of the old days (my mother told me about them!) when men & women went to the doctor, took whatever medication or advice the doctor gave, and asked no questions. It was "rude" apparently to ask the doctor questions, or it wasn't "nice" because he was a "busy man". Now it's apparently "bedgrudging" to ask legitimate questions about the Taoiseach and his finances. Just like it's "racist" these days to simply question the authenticity of some asylum seekers, etc etc etc. (I know that's a different topic, but I'm just making a point about free speech). Some people seem to be quite scared of those of us who dare to ask questions. I wonder if there's a medical term for that phobia? [In Bertie-speak it would probably be something like b-b-b-begorrahphobia]!
 
wish I was so broke I could go to watch my favourite 'british' team play 6 times a year.
 
extopia said:
He should be run out of town on a rail!
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Don't think that's likely to happen! I was talking to a construction worker this morning and his politics were very simple......when FF are in power, I work....when they're not, I don't.
 
cuchulainn said:
wish I was so broke I could go to watch my favourite 'british' team play 6 times a year.
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Isn't that the question that Fine Gael's Damien English asked in the Dail yesterday. he wanted to know if Bertie was broke and couldnt afford B&B in Dublin and had to sleep on a matress yet he could afford to go to Manchester 6 times in that year. I am sure he (or maybe someone else) had to pay for B&B in Manchester as well as Flights. Something doesn't add up.
I don't think Bertie answered that question in the Dail.
 

Bertie has questions to answer but is that really one of them?
 
liteweight said:
I am certainly not a 'holier than thou' but I'd like to know why an educated man, an experienced politician and an ex Lord Mayor of Dublin, felt the need to keep his money under a mattress...metaphorical or not!!
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It's simple really, Bertie wanted to show just how honest he really was. Presumably at that stage the position of finance minister gave one some influence over central bank interest rates. Now, a normal finance minister would obviously be impacted either positively or negatively by a change in rates, Mr. Ahern wishing to show his absolute incorruptibilty decided he could not allow himself to be in a position where his decision could have an impact on his financial well being. Ah, if only there were more like him!!
 
at that one but as liteweight above states its how it affects you personally or your family is what a lot of people go by. in next years election for instance if FF are re-elected as government Dermot Ahern will be a minister. If however FG are elected as government then Fergus O'Dowd will ( probably ) be a minister. So are people of north Louth going to displace a certain minister with a south Louth possability? are people of south Louth going to pass up an opportunity to get a minister? and thats only one small county. pretty sure it translates to other areas as well. and thats before the bungs start in December. oh I know about the government sticking to fiscal policy but as Bertie said 'that was the position then' when referring to 1993 so come December fiscal policy guidelines for October will have been the policy for October - not December and certainly not 2007.
 
Have you ever been to Manchester?

Been tere, done tat, wore te Taoiseach !!!
 
So it's all true then.....a storm in a teacup! We'll all give out about it for a few days and then it blows over! Maybe the politicians know us better than we think?
 
Did I get the details right on his savings? Did he really say that he saved £50k approx around that time without using a bank account? So he had the cash under the mattress or at the back of the wardrobe?

And this was the man responsible for regulating the entire financial services industry at the time? Incredible (literally)....
 
and he obviously omitted to tell his solicitor he was flush, otherwise why was the his solicitor dropping hints all over the place about bertie's financial woes? and the 'bhoys' in manchester obviously didnt know he had a jacobs tin under the bed full of used fivers either.
another point: how exactly are td's paid? into their bank account or in cash? just wondering how his ministers salary was actually paid and received by him?
 
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