Brady, a farmer from Cootehill, approached the counter. He was handed a credit union book. At 11.09am, a lodgement of 400 was made to his new account. A minute earlier, a sum of 400 had been withdrawn from the personal account of Helen O'Reilly.

At 11.11am, Brady was in the money. The credit union's newest member had a lodgement to his account of 19,040. This came in the form of a loan, following an application that was processed the very same day. Unless the loan application was processed in two minutes flat, Brady wasn't even a shareholder at the time of processing.

Extending a loan of this magnitude to a new creditunion member is highly unusual. The purpose of the loan was stated as "house extension". O'Reilly approved the transaction.

Until a few months previously, O'Reilly would not have had the authority to approve such a loan herself. At her first board meeting as manager the previous May, she requested that the manager's authority to personally approve loans be increased to 25,000. This was to "improve the service to members", according to the director's report.

Back on the day in question, things were looking up for Dan Brady. Then, by mid-afternoon, he found himself nearly back where he had been early that morning.

At 3.39pm, O'Reilly's account mushroomed by 19,040 through the lodgement of a cheque paid in by Brady. There was only 400 left in Dan's deflated account but at least that was 400 more than he had that before 11.09am that morning.

At 3.45pm, six minutes after she came into the big bucks, O'Reilly withdrew a large chunk of it from her account by cheque. A sum of 12,750 was made out to be paid to local solicitor's firm, D McDwyer and Co. She retained the remainder of the 19,040 in her account.

Bizarre happenings Cavan is a small place. The principal of D McDwyer & Co is Denis McDwyer, who is a brother of Ray McDwyer, a partner in accounting firm McDwyer Lennon and Co, which was at the time the auditor for Cavan credit union. Another brother of the two men is Dr Eamonn McDwyer, a local GP and former Fianna Fail councillor. Three months after February 2003, he became chairman of Cavan credit union.

There is no suggestion that any of the three brothers knew of the Brady/O'Reilly transactions at the time.

Denis McDwyer and Co confirmed to the Sunday Tribune that it received the cheque in question and attributed it to a normal conveyance transaction. The firm says it was unaware of how the money in the cheque originated, which is completely normal.

Nearly a year after Eamonn McDwyer became chairman, McDwyer Lennon and Co stepped down as auditors because of the potential conflict of interest involving two brothers.

There are around 12,000 members in Cavan credit union, and they have been subjected to some bizarre happenings in what is a mediumsized business.

In 2000, an action was taken in the Circuit Court following an allegation that a woman had been slandered by a director at the previous year's AGM. She was awarded �9,000 by the court.

The occurrences of February 2003 were followed by a series of events ranging from the ridiculous to the worrying.

In February 2003, Helen O'Reilly was on a probationary period as the new manager of the credit union. Her appointment is currently the subject of a High Court case being taken by another applicant for the job and does not concern the events in this investigation.

The following year, another employee at the credit union, Colette Fitzsimons, was suspended. She was accused of administering accounts held in the name of relations of hers. This practice is contrary to credit-union rules but quite often the rule is ignored to save inconvenience in dealing with minor transactions. Fitzsimons would allege that the practice was widespread in the credit union and she was being dismissed for other, unspecified reasons.

Following a disciplinary hearing in June 2004, Fitzsimons was dismissed. She took her case to the Employment Appeals Tribunal. In the months that followed her dismissal, it became apparent that Fitzsimons had in her possession confidential documents from the credit union.

These documents consisted of computer records of the transactions on 26 February 2003. Such documents were circulated to a number of parties with an interest in the credit union. Who exactly acquired them from the credit union remains a mystery.

Eventually, on 30 March 2006, Fitzsimons went into Cavan garda station and made a 12page formal statement of complaint about the February 2003 transactions. She facilitated for garda officers to view documents in the possession of her solicitor.

No prosecution followed. The Sunday Tribune understands the gardai considered it a matter for Ifsra, the financial regulator. Eamonn McDwyer claims that nobody in the gardai ever contacted him about it.

Helen O'Reilly says there was nothing wrong with the transactions she oversaw that day.

"Dan Brady was buying a vehicle from me, " she says. "I knew him from my previous job in the Ulster Bank and knew his credit was good. He was going to get a loan in the Ulster Bank. I said come to us instead.

"It's not unusual to give somebody a loan on joining. As he was taking it out to pay me, I put the money into my account."

When asked about details like the 400 used to open the account, the "house extension" purpose given for the loan, the "vehicle" and other aspects, she said she didn't have time to go into it. "Bye, bye now, " she said and hung up.

Dan Brady refused to comment on the transactions. "I am not prepared to say what the loan was for. Goodbye now, " he said.

Eamonn McDwyer is full of praise for Helen O'Reilly, whom, he says, did a fine job as manager.

"What she did on that occasion was an error of judgement. She was told it was inappropriate and not to do it again." He says the transactions were fully investigated by the Irish League of Credit Unions (ILCU) and Ifsra, the financial regulator.

An ILCU field officer's report from April 2005 said the loan could be seen to be in breach of Section 69 of the Credit Union Act as "this loan for the purpose of purchasing a motor vehicle was classified as a house extension". The officer recommended care should be taken when inputting loan details. No other aspects of the transactions from that day were recorded in the report.

A spokeswoman for Ifsra said it investigated regulatory matters in the credit union dating from 2003 and 2004 and that matter was now resolved.

Surprise A number of board members of the credit union expressed surprise when the Sunday Tribune outlined the details of the affair. For one, it rang a bell but he wasn't aware of the exact details.

None of them were aware that O'Reilly had been told her actions were inappropriate, as described by McDwyer. The board did sign off on the ILCU report in June 2005 but it is unclear what level of detail was available to the directors.

The doctor stepped down as chairman in December 2006. In his departing address, he paid Helen O'Reilly a fine compliment, describing her as "a manager par excellence". He wasn't too complimentary about others. Of the outgoing board, he said, "These are the people who have led your credit union out of the jaws of disaster which were pending at the time but have since not only been quelled but dashed!" The preceding chairman, Des Cullen, took exception and proposed McDwyer's report be rejected. The proposal was carried and the good doctor's departing shot deflected.

A new chairman, Patsy Lee, was voted in. He stepped down three months later, on 27 March 2007, but remains a board member. Another resignation took place the same night. Helen O'Reilly decided it was time to move on, "as Cavan credit union is in a very healthy financial situation". Stepping back up to refill the chairman's shoes was Eamonn McDwyer. The meeting was reported in the local Cavan Echo newspaper under the byline of Leah McDwyer, daughter of Eamonn.

O'Reilly took up a new job with a local financial services company, MDL. Among the directors of MDL are Eamonn McDwyer jnr and the accountant, Ray McDwyer, son and brother respectively of the doctor. The other brother, Denis the solicitor, to whose company O'Reilly had sent the cheque for 12,750 in February 2003, hasn't had much luck with finances lately. Earlier this year he was named as having made a settlement of 89,321 with the Revenue Commissioners.

On 1 May last, Colette Fitzsimons' employment appeals tribunal hearing was due to take place at 10.30am in Cavan courthouse. Evidence relating to the transactions in February 2003 was to have been aired by Fitzsimons' legal team.

Surprisingly, there was no reporter from any local media in attendance. The presence of a reporter from the Sunday Tribune appeared to generate some excitement. Solicitors for both sides separately approached the reporter and asked whom he represented. The solicitor for the credit union wondered why the newspaper was reporting on such a boring case.

Financial settlement The start of the hearing was delayed as the two parties engaged in talks. Shortly after 11.30am the tribunal was informed that Colette Fitzsimons was withdrawing her claim. She received a financial settlement, which is believed to be around 10,000. Among the small group in attendance was Eamon McDwyer.

Meanwhile, the repayment of Dan Brady's loan is going swimmingly. The term is 10 years and the loan itself certainly followed a route less travelled.