The Taoiseach yesterday suffered further embarrassment over his recent junior ministerial reshuffle with the disclosure that he made a deal with Síle de Valera last November that she would step down as Minister of State for Education next December.
There had been no hint of such a deal before yesterday despite persistent speculation about Ms de Valera's future as a Minister given that she is leaving the Dáil at the next election.
Her announcement yesterday of the arrangement to stay on until December reignited the controversy over last week's controversial reshuffle, and raised questions about the Taoiseach's judgment.
The most puzzling aspect of the affair is that Mr Ahern and Ms de Valera allowed a controversy to develop over her position when either could have defused it at any stage by revealing her plans to step down.
Since he made the surprise announcement last week that Meath TD Mary Wallace was being promoted to the junior ministerial vacancy created by the resignation of Ivor Callely, the Taoiseach has been mired in controversy.
He was forced to meet Seán Haughey last Friday to defuse the storm created by his decision to pass him over for promotion. There had been weeks of speculation that Mr Haughey would be promoted. When this failed to happen, Mr Haughey went public to say he was considering his future in politics.
That was followed by a controversy over Ms de Valera's intentions amid widespread speculation over whether she would remain as a Minister given her impending retirement from the Dáil.
She sought a meeting with Mr Ahern yesterday to inform him of her intention of making a public statement about her future.
That statement read: "On the 6th November last I went to the Taoiseach to advise him of my intention of not standing in the next election.
"At that meeting I raised the matter of my stepping down as Minister of State. I was immediately told by the Taoiseach to carry on with the job in hand.
"I suggested that a time limit should be set for my stepping down as Minister of State. The Taoiseach and I agreed that I would vacate that position in December 2006.
"To suggest that the Taoiseach was signalling for me to resign when he talked about the tradition in the party is a complete fallacy.
"The Taoiseach and I are friends for many years and we had an agreement on this issue dating back to 6th November, 2005."
A spokeswoman for the Taoiseach said Mr Ahern did not dispute Ms de Valera's version of events.
During the meeting between the two yesterday, Ms de Valera insisted that she wanted to put an end to all the speculation about her future.
Mr Ahern's spokeswoman said Ms de Valera had told the Taoiseach she was particularly anxious to bring clarity to the situation to reassure county councillors in Clare and officials in the Department of Education about her future.
Later in a series of interviews Ms de Valera said she had issued the statement because the speculation in the media was "so horrifically wrong".
She said during her meeting with the Taoiseach on November 6th last there was no pressure exerted on her to resign from her position before the next election.
"I was the one that raised the matter of my stepping down, and I raised the matter of a time limit."
She said media speculation over the weekend suggesting that she was refusing to step down was "totally and utterly false".
She denied that her own statements over the past three months had contributed to the confusion.
However, back in November when The Irish Times reported on her decision not to run again for election, she maintained that she intended to stay on as a Junior Minister in the present Dáil.
