The Taoiseach has refused to retract details he gave in the Dáil about the Co Meath family whose five children were returned to them by court order in March after spending a week in care against their parents' wishes.
Instead, Mr Ahern's spokeswoman said last night that it was the Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte who was responsible for the airing of details of the O'Hara family case in the Dáil. The family has complained strongly to Mr Ahern about the incident.
The spokeswoman said Mr Rabbitte had raised the case of the five children - four of whom are autistic - in a "crude and contentious manner".
Mr Rabbitte last night rejected this, and said that the details of the case given by the Taoiseach were untrue. He had raised the matter because the family had told him that nine weeks after the court case there was no care plan in place for the children.
Mr Ahern told the Dáil last week that when the Health Service Executive decided to take the children into care they had taken account of "threats that were made on the lives of the children, which were something they could not ignore".
In the Dáil yesterday Mr Rabbitte accused the Taoiseach of "quoting from a partisan in camera document" in respect of the O'Hara family. "The allegation in the document was found to be untrue in court, but the Taoiseach repeated it in this House to the acute distress of the family concerned," he said. But when he asked the Taoiseach to retract the statement, Mr Ahern said: "I retract nothing."
The HSE sought to place the five children in State care in March. Mr and Mrs O'Hara had been giving media interviews at the time complaining about the lack of support services for their children. Trim District Court ordered the return of the children to their parents.
The Taoiseach's spokeswoman said he had written to Mrs O'Hara explaining "that it was not his wish to bring their family affairs into the public domain".
She said there had been no breach of the in-camera rule, as the details given by Mr Ahern "in response to the repeated questioning by Deputy Rabbitte" had been "in the possession of the Department prior to the case".
Mr Rabbitte told journalists last night that when he raised the issue the Taoiseach had no warning he was doing so. He said he was "taken by surprise" when the Taoiseach began to read from what appeared to be a confidential document from the health authorities in the case.
The O'Haras have written to Mr Rabbitte since the Taoiseach's response to them stating that they have no issue with him. They described the Taoiseach's response to them as "very pathetic".