As the controversy over the Taoiseach's personal finances continued yesterday, the Tánaiste, Brian Cowen, rejected claims by Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny that Bertie Ahern had lost the moral authority to govern.
Mr Cowen said he did not accept that the Taoiseach's tenure as leader of Fianna Fáil has been shortened in any way by the events of the last two weeks.
The Minister for Finance and deputy leader of Fianna Fáil said the issue had been dealt with by the vote of confidence in the Dáil last week.
Earlier yesterday Mr Ahern said he intended to ignore Mr Kenny's assertion that he had lost the moral authority to govern and was unfit for office.
Speaking at Croke Park, Mr Ahern said he intended to continue to focus on the important issues, such as the Government's spending estimates and the health service.
"I have been listening to opposition politicians for 30 years. As long as they stay in opposition and I continue to do my job I am quite happy," he said.
Meanwhile, Fine Gael environment spokesman Phil Hogan accused the Green Party of continuing to back Mr Ahern without knowing the basic facts about what had happened in the public sessions of the Mahon tribunal in the past two weeks.
"John Gormley admitted yesterday on TV3's The Political Party that he was unaware that a Mahon tribunal judge had criticised Bertie Ahern for giving polar opposite accounts during his evidence, yet the Greens backed the Taoiseach's less than credible account of how he received €300,000," said Mr Hogan.
He said that as was widely reported, the tribunal judge Mary Faherty had said that the Taoiseach had given "polar opposite accounts" of why he withdrew £50,000 in 1995.
"Any person with a passing interest in Bertie Ahern's evidence would certainly be aware of this explosive rebuke to the Taoiseach, yet the Greens, as shown by John Gormley's appearance on television with Ursula Halligan, were ignorant of this important fact."
Mr Hogan said it was clear that Mr Ahern had accepted private cash for personal use, had not fully and freely co-operated with the tribunal, and had not told the full truth of those matters, but in spite of this the Greens were still prepared to defend him.
"Now it seems that their support was not based on the evidence placed before the tribunal nor the comments made at it. John Gormley must now spell out just why he is defending the Taoiseach and why his party made such a staunch defence without knowing the full facts," said Mr Hogan.
Green Party Senator Dan Boyle reiterated that his party would wait until the Mahon tribunal had reported before giving a verdict on the Taoiseach's evidence. He said that the report was likely to emerge in 18 months to two years.
"If a named political figure is criticised we would expect them to respond accordingly and we would respond accordingly," said Mr Boyle, speaking to Seán O'Rourke on RTÉ Radio's News at One.
He rejected the suggestion that the Greens had a role to play in policing the behaviour of its partners in Government, saying that the idea of his party being a "moral police force for other political parties" was not something it ever wanted to be.
The Independent TD Finian McGrath, who also supports the Government in the Dáil, said that he did have concerns about what was happening at the tribunal and that he was following it very closely.
He added that he would await the final outcome of the tribunal before deciding on a course of action in response.
