These are just two of the questions the Taoiseach needs to set straight EITHER on Christmas Day or on St Stephen's Day in 1993, a handful of Bertie Ahern's friends gave him �22,500. A difficult separation agreement finalised in November 1993 had allegedly left the Fianna Fail politician strapped for cash.

Ahern's solicitor, the late Gerry Brennan, organised the whip-round from a group including Des Richardson, Fintan Gunne and Charlie Chawke. The money was to help clear a bank loan Ahern had taken out to pay his legal bills.

Nine months after this first handout, Ahern attended a function in Manchester. A collection made by a group of businessmen netted the then minister for finance some stg�8,000.

Three months after that event, in December 1994, Ahern . . . who was now Fianna Fail leader . . . received �16,500 from four friends including Joe Burke and Paddy 'the plasterer' Reilly.

So in the space of a single year, Ahern received the equivalent of 60,000. He said the two Dublin payments at Christmas 1993 and 1994 were loans but the Manchester money was a gift. The different status meant no tax liability was incurred.

Ahern has previously confirmed that from 1986 until late 1993 he accumulated �50,000 in savings. As part of his separation agreement, he put �20,000 into an educational account for his children.

"I also had to pay off other bills, so the money I'd saved was gone, " Ahern told RTE last September.

One of the reasons given for the whiprounds in 1993 and 1994 was that Ahern was broke after his separation agreement.

But it has now emerged that Ahern has told the tribunal that in December 1994 he had �50,000 in cash in a safe at his constituency office at St Luke's in Drumcondra. This money was divided into savings of �28,000 and �22,000 which was part of the Drumcondra and Manchester whiprounds.

So from being financially wiped out at the start of 1994, Ahern managed during that year to save �28,000. His salary at the time was �68,000.

MANCHESTER What we know In 1994 Bertie Ahern was minister for finance when he attended a private function at the Four Seasons hotel in Manchester. He departed that evening with about stg�8,000. Several years after 1993, Ahern felt it necessary to check the ethical guidelines about taking money as a serving government minister.

A significant number of questions still hang over this function in Manchester.

What we don't know >> The date in 1994 when this function took place.

>> Ahern said the event was for a "business organisation" which has never been identified.

>> The nature of the evening remains confused. Ahern says it lasted for four hours, there was dinner and he spoke and took questions about the Irish economy.

But one of those who attended, John Kennedy, said Ahern did not speak.

>> Ahern said 25 people attended the function but he could not recall their names for the tribunal.

THE HOUSE What we know Bertie Ahern was looking for a place to live in 1994. His marriage was over and he was in a second relationship with Celia Larkin. Micheal Wall, a mutual friend of the couple, was also looking for a house. Mayo-born Wall was working in Manchester but wanted a base in Dublin. Wall attended the Manchester function in October 1994 but, despite their friendship, Ahern says he did not contribute to the stg�8,000 whip-round.

Larkin and Wall viewed a secondhand house at Beresford Avenue, Drumcondra, in late November 1994. Wall met Ahern and Larkin at St Luke's on 3 December 1994. Wall handed over stg�30,000 in cash. The tribunal has been told this money was for renovating the Beresford house. Ahern also agreed to invest �50,000 in the renovation work.

Wall purchased the house three months later and, in the summer of 1995, Ahern became his tenant .

After the St Luke's meeting, Larkin lodged Wall's stg�30,000 and Ahern's �50,000 into two accounts in her name on 5 December 1994. Last week, Ahern said part of Wall's stg�30,000 was to pay stamp duty on the house purchase. Both men shared a solicitor, the late Gerry Brennan. Larkin withdrew Ahern's �50,000 in January 1995 and returned it to him. In 1996 Micheal Wall made a will leaving the Beresford house to his tenant.

Ahern purchased the house from Wall in October 1997 for 180,000. According to the Irish Times last week, the tribunal estimates that, after tax and other costs, Wall lost �15,100 on the house transaction.

In the Dail last autumn, Ahern said, "Mr Wall would have had a gain of about 30% in the two-and-a-half years [between buying and selling the house]."

What we don't know >> As Wall was not the owner of the Beresford house in December 1994, why was he giving Ahern cash for renovation work?

>> Why did a relatively new house worth about �138,000 need such expensive renovations?

>> Why did Ahern, as a tenant, agree to invest �50,000 in the house?

>> Why did Ahern not lodge the total . . .

�50,000 and stg�30,000 . . . into his own bank account instead of new accounts opened by Larkin?

>> Ahern did not have a bank account from 1987 until late 1993. But he opened his own bank accounts in 1994. So why was he holding large amounts of cash in a safe in St Luke's?

>> How did Ahern accumulate �28,000 in savings in a single year, 1994?

>> Why didn't Gerry Brennan, solicitor to Ahern and Wall, deal with the stamp duty matter?

>> What motivated Micheal Wall to bequeath the house to Ahern?

>> What is the exact relationship between Bertie Ahern and Micheal Wall?