The Taoiseach admitted he should have told the Dáil that his then special adviser, Dr Martin Mansergh, had met the alleged leader of the "Real IRA", Michael McKevitt, some months following the Omagh atrocity in August 1998.
Mr Ahern was replying to the Fine Gael leader, Mr Enda Kenny, who called on him to correct the record of replies he had given in the Dáil in November of last year.
The Taoiseach said: "I accept Deputy Kenny's comment that the position is not clear from the record. I did not say that Dr Mansergh met Mr Michael McKevitt during Christmas 1998. Deputy Kenny has obviously read the record. I am sure he will accept that I was talking at that stage about a deal that was meant to have been done prior to the ceasefire in which Dr Mansergh and Father Reid were involved."
Mr Ahern said that Dr Mansergh had put a report of the meeting into the record of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the Department of the Taoiseach.
"In no way was Dr Mansergh acting in a secret way. I accept it would have been better if I had mentioned that at the time, but I do so now. I reiterate that it was done with my imprimatur, and the reason it was done during Christmas week was that at that stage the organisation had been on ceasefire for three months. We felt it was worth trying to convince it not only to say on ceasefire, which was not an issue at that time, but to disband."
Mr Kenny said he was glad the Taoiseach had taken the opportunity to clarify the information he had given to the Dáil, adding that at a time when the families of the victims were pursuing their course of justice, without any great help from either Government, the Taoiseach's special adviser had a face-to-face meeting with the alleged leader of the "Real IRA" and the alleged perpetrator of the bombing.
"With respect to the Taoiseach and his office, it seems that the lack of information and clarity from some of the replies given by him as head of Government diminishes the authority of his office," Mr Kenny said.
Mr Ahern said that he had made it clear in a Dáil statement on November 5th, and also in a more extensive statement that he had distributed the same day, that Dr Mansergh did have contact with the 32-County Sovereignty Movement in 1998, some weeks before the Omagh atrocity with a view to persuading the "Real IRA" to cease their activities after the overwhelming ratification of the Belfast Agreement.
Earlier, Mr Kenny said: "On November 5th last year, in replying to questions in the House, the Taoiseach stated clearly that there was no contact between any member of the Government and the 'Real IRA' and that there had been no initiative for contact brought about by his then special adviser, Mansergh, who is now a senator."
He said that what concerned him was not the integrity of Dr Mansergh, the Taoiseach or Father Alex Reid regarding the matters they were dealing with in relation to Northern Ireland. "What concerns me is that the Taoiseach, in answering questions here as head of Government, chose not to confirm to the House whether or not a meeting took place between his special adviser, presumably with his imprimatur, and the leader of the 'Real IRA'."
