BERTIE AHERN'S former partner is set to make a big profit on a house she bought with a controversial loan from Fianna Fáil in the 1990s.

In April, 1993, the house on Dublin's North Circular Road was bought for £40,000 by Celia Larkin for her elderly aunts who were tenants there for many years.

The purchase of the house was raised at the Mahon Tribunal during an investigation into the former Taoiseach's finances.

The Mahon Tribunal was subsequently told that the "entire membership of the Dublin Central O'Donovan Ross Cumann Trust House committee" - widely known as the St Luke's cumann in Drumcondra - had lent Ms Larkin £30,000 of the purchase price. Ms Larkin was in the early stages of a relationship with Mr Ahern at the time, and was a constituency worker in St Luke's.

Ms Larkin repaid the loan 15 years later, when the inquiry began to look at Mr Ahern's finances.

Now, number 343 North Circular Road has gone on the market - with an asking price of €595,000. That could mean more than a 10-fold profit for Ms Larkin on her investment. The three bedroom home is on the market through Lisney's.

Ms Larkin and Mr Ahern split a number of years ago, and Ms Larkin is understood to be working in the UK.

Online Editors