He was the party's national treasurer. His friend and confidante Des Richardson was the party's chief fundraiser. Richardson was based in the Berkeley Court.

He answered to Ahern.

Fianna Fail had considerable bank loans. Ahern and Richardson were tasked with reducing those debts and stockpiling money for subsequent electoral tests.

They were FF's money men . . . Ahern and Richardson. They oversaw the donations campaign. They dealt in cheques, bank drafts and cash. They dealt in Irish pounds. Fianna Fail was also raising money in the UK and the US, so it seems reasonable to assume that they received sterling and dollar donations. Their working methods were explained last week at the Mahon tribunal. Private dinners were organised. Sympathisers and supporters were invited. Senior politicians spoke.

Cheques were written. Cash was handed over.

Envelopes were gathered up. Lodgments made.

>>Manchester mystery It was all somewhat like Ahern's mysterious Manchester function . . . a private dinner with invited guests at which the finance minister spoke, and a whipround was organised. Except in Manchester, the money was taken home by Ahern for his personal benefit. At other private events, like that in Niall Welch's home in Cork in 1994, the cheques and cash were given to Fianna Fail.

The tribunal heard last week about the Welch dinner.

Welch, a chartered accountant, was asked by either Des Richardson or businessman Owen O'Callaghan to host the fundraiser in his home. He met with Richardson to plan the event but could not recall meeting Ahern, although the latter's diary says he met with Welch and Richardson two days before the dinner. Welch invited some friends. O'Callaghan also issued invitations.

Caterers from the Imperial Hotel looked after the dining for the evening. Albert Reynolds spoke about the national finances but not Fianna Fail's finances. He then left early. Welch recalled seeing envelopes on the dinner table. He thought the envelopes were given to Des Richardson. It was obviously a good evening's work.

The envelopes contained cheques and cash. Fianna Fail's accounts show a �50,000 lodgment from the Welch dinner. Owen O'Callaghan was one of the guests who donated. He gave �10,000. In all, cheques worth �46,000 and �4,000 in cash were lodged.

The event in Welch's home was repeated again and again during that period. Richardson and Ahern took in hundreds of thousands in cheques and cash. With so much money arriving into the Berkeley Court, it is understandable that Bertie Ahern cannot remember personally receiving sterling in Manchester or how a businessman, described as a 'friend', says he gave a donation to Fianna Fail but not to a Richardson-organised 'dig-out' for Ahern in Drumcondra.

HAPPY birthday to Judge Moriarty and his legal team. Their inquiry is 10 years old in less than a fortnight.

Few would have predicted that the investigation into Charles Haughey and Michael Lowry would have survived to enjoy the big one zero. A cake with candles . . . at the taxpayers' expense, naturally . . . is surely merited.

"The chairman is anxious to conclude his work with all possible speed, " the Taoiseach informed the Dail last Tuesday. Eamon Gilmore then asked Ahern about the cost of Moriarty's decade-long endeavours. A naive question, perhaps, as the Taoiseach is not a man for sums as his recent tribunal appearances showed. He was, at least, consistent with his reply. "Frankly, I am not prepared to speculate. I have heard all types of figures. I just do not know, " Ahern reassuringly stated.

Taoiseach rolls with the Dail punches for thirdweek running THE Taoiseach was again feeling heat from Fine Gael's band of hecklers last week over the health services which continue to plague his third-term administration.

Once more, new TD Leo Varadkar was throwing verbal punches.

And Ahern, for the third consecutive week defending his record, quoted from a survey of patients' experiences of the health services.

"Did they survey the ones who died?" Varadkar shouted across the chamber.

Not to be outdone by the new guns in his party's ranks, Damien English joined the chorus in describing Ahern as a "joke". The Fianna Fail leader was unimpressed. But he did nothing for his own cause in defying the reality facing sick people due to Brendan Drumm's financial strategy. "It is not a cutback when a body goes over its budget of 14bn, " Ahern asserted. Maybe it was only in the 1980s that a lack of money for health services hurt the old, the sick and the elderly.