to the Fianna Fáil National Executive in 2009, were noted, however, Gallagher responded that he donated some of the State Board fees to charity. After avoiding criticising Fianna Fáil, Gallagher said: "the party had moved away from the grassroots". His post-Smarthomes dealings revealed inappropriate Director loans of €82,829, which had to be repaid. Journalists questioned whether he was a millionaire, and noted some Dragons' Den investments were paid via fees. After three further television debates on 4, 11 and 12 October 2011, a 16 October RED C poll, ranked Gallagher 1st with 39% of the poll, with Higgins 2nd with 27%. After three television and radio debates on 18, 22 and 24 October, Gallagher would maintain this rank, and increase polling to 40% by the final RED C poll on 22 October 2011, and the final MRBI poll on 23 October 2011. On Monday, 24 October, three days before the election, Gallagher suffered a severe setback in the final debate on Pat Kenny's The Frontline, watched by an audience of 900,000. Martin McGuinness said that he had been contacted by an unnamed man (later verified as fuel-seller, Hugh Morgan), who would confirm that Gallagher had collected a cheque for €5,000 after a 2008 Fianna Fáil fund-raiser, which Gallagher had previously denied. Later in the show, Kenny read out a tweet live on air, subsequently proven to be from an anonymous source, that the unnamed man would hold a press conference next day. McGuinness resumed his attack, and Gallagher, acknowledging he knew the man, called him a "convicted criminal and fuel smuggler". Gallagher then addressed the audience and, as The Irish Times would later chronicle: "he also made comments that had very unfortunate overtones for a man denying Fianna Fáil connections – including 'no recollection' and 'if he gave me an envelope'". On 25 October, Hugh Morgan made a statement claiming Gallagher collected the cheque from him at Morgan Fuels in Armagh. Gallagher denied this event occurred. Martin McGuinness said that he had "done a service" to the Irish people in bringing the affair to light. Further scrutiny came on the accounts of his consulting business, BHTC, from audience questions the previous night, and his Director's loan of €82,829 from BHTC. On 25 October, UCD Professor Niamh Brennan described the BHTC accounts to The Irish Times as having a "bad vibe". On 25 October, on Pat Kenny's radio show, Gallagher questioned