The Sinn Féin president Mr Gerry Adams this evening refuted that he had been a member of the IRA as was suggested earlier by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern.
The Taoiseach Bertie Ahern on Gerry Adams
"He's wrong, I am not and have not been (an IRA member), and he's never raised this issue with me," he told Belfast-based Downtown Radio.
"But I have to say I'm a bit flabbergasted as to why he should give voice to these assumptions at this time."
Mr Adams has consistently denied membership of the IRA although the allegation has been made many times in newspapers, books and by political opponents.
Earlier today Mr Ahern, said he always assumed Mr Adams was a member of the IRA.
Mr Ahern said he would be surprised if Mr Adams had not been a member of the group, given his prominent role in negotiations involving the republican movement.
"I always assumed that he was (a member of the IRA), I think I would be surprised if he wasn't," he said.
He said he did not know what Mr Adams's current relationship with the IRA was, but people would be interested to know.
"He hardly became one of the chief negotiators back at the time of Lenadoon if he hadn't some fairly close association," Mr Ahern added.
But Mr Ahern said he wasn't particularly interested in Mr Adams's past: "What I'm more interested in is what is happening now."
"I think Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness have a key role to play, they have moved the IRA and the republican movement from a situation where they were deeply embedded in violence and brought them fairly close to the path of peace and political stability," he said.