The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, faces an acrimonious session of the Dail today during which he will be questioned rigorously about his accounts of his dealings with Mr Tom Gilmartin, the property developer.
Following an overnight trawl of all his ministerial diaries from 1986 to 1998, Mr Ahern informed the Tanaiste at 8.30 a.m. yesterday that he had had three meetings with Mr Gilmartin, two of them in the Department of Labour. Previously, he had said he could recall only one meeting.
The disclosure, which tends to add credibility to Mr Gilmartin's allegations, led to a postponement of the Cabinet meeting while Ms Harney consulted her parliamentary party and Mr Ahern prepared a public statement.
Mr Gilmartin has alleged that he gave £50,000 to Mr Padraig Flynn for Fianna Fail and that Mr Ahern later sought a donation for the party from him.
Meanwhile, it has now emerged that Mr Ahern did not inform Ms Harney from September onwards that Fianna Fail had sent an affidavit to the Flood tribunal saying that the party had not received a £50,000 donation from Mr Gilmartin.
Questioned on RTE television last night if he had asked Mr Flynn what had happened to the money, Mr Ahern replied that the Fianna Fail party had made contact with Mr Flynn some time ago and the matter was in the domain of the tribunal. "Are you yourself satisfied, as leader of the party, with the answer you got?" the Taoiseach was asked. "No," Mr Ahern replied.
The Progressive Democrats continued to withhold judgment on the Taoiseach's position yesterday. "I am not saying anything," Ms Harney's spokesman said. "The issue is now in the Dail. I have nothing further to say."
The Taoiseach put it bluntly to his Cabinet colleagues yesterday that he had "nothing to hide". They told him to go to the Dail and reveal everything he knew.
The four Independent TDs on whom the minority Government relies - Mr Harry Blaney, Mr Thomas Gildea, Ms Mildred Fox and Mr Jackie Healy-Rae - are seeking a briefing on Mr Ahern's version of events at 3 p.m. today.
In a dramatic statement yesterday the Taoiseach disclosed that he had had three meetings with Mr Gilmartin in 1988 and 1989.
"I have been able to establish that the meeting which I clearly recollected holding with Mr Tom Gilmartin took place in my then constituency office over Fagan's pub on Monday, October 10th, 1988," he said.
He said he had also established, with the help of his former staff in the Department of Labour, that there was a record of another meeting in Mespil Road with Mr Gilmartin at 10.45 a.m. on Thursday, October 13th, 1988. According to the records, there had been another meeting at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, September 28th, 1989. "I still have no specific memory of these meetings," he said.
Mr Ahern also stated: "I am quite certain that I would not have solicited a donation for Fianna Fail from Mr Gilmartin and I have no recollection of any reference made by him to an alleged £50,000 given to the party treasurer, Mr Padraig Flynn, in June, 1989."
The change in Mr Ahern's position since his initial statement on Sunday evening, when he could recollect only one meeting with Mr Gilmartin, caused anxiety among Fianna Fail members in Leinster House yesterday.
The opposition parties were also discomfited by the revelations. The Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, indicated that he had been quite close to recommending that his party should table a motion of no confidence in the Government at lunchtime yesterday.
Faced with a plethora of demands for the suspension of Dail business, special notice and other questions about Mr Ahern's involvement in the Gilmartin allegations, the Government has agreed to debate the matter in its own time today. The Taoiseach will make a statement, which will be followed by a question and answer session.
During last night's interview on RTE's Prime Time programme Mr Ahern also defended his appointment to the Cabinet of Mr Ray Burke, despite doubts about the appointment.
"Although there were allegations, there were newspaper articles, there were people in the street talking about it, my checks, which were substantial checks, and I think in the cold light of day will be seen to be substantial checks . . . were stating that Mr Burke had done nothing," Mr Ahern said. "So, if I left him out, I was declaring him guilty, and, if I put him in, of course there was a risk."
Asked about suggestions that he included Mr Burke in the Cabinet because he "couldn't afford not to", Mr Ahern said: "That is entirely untrue, and I wouldn't do that for anyone or to anyone. But neither will I listen to speculation and, when I could not find any substantive evidence, then act on that . . . "
