The Mahon tribunal's decision to delay hearings into Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's finances until after the election has been greeted with relief within Fianna Fáil.
However, the disclosure that his former partner Celia Larkin received £30,000stg in December 1994 towards the refurbishment costs of his home has reignited last year's payments controversy.
During often confusing answers yesterday morning in Croke Park, Mr Ahern said that the money from Manchester-based businessman Michael Wall had been used to pay for refurbishments and pay some stamp duty costs.
The house, off Griffith Avenue in Dublin, was bought by Mr Wall in March 1995, a few months after the money was given to Ms Larkin, and rented to Mr Ahern. He in turn bought the property in 1997,a few months after he became Taoiseach.
"Any money that Ms Larkin received was towards . . . it was a stamp duty issue and it was towards the refurbishment of the house," he told The Irish Times.
"She facilitated the work that he did on the house," said Mr Ahern, who insisted that it was "entirely" appropriate that she should be involved in this way.
Clearly annoyed by the emergence of the latest details about his private life, Mr Ahern confirmed that he had spent £50,000 on the refurbishment before he bought the house. Mr Wall was one of the Manchester-based Irish who had attended a function in the city in 1994 at which Mr Ahern received £8,000stg, though Mr Wall was not a donor on that occasion, the Taoiseach told the Dáil last year.
He repeatedly insisted that the latest allegations had "nothing whatever" to do with charges levelled by property developer Tom Gilmartin that he had accepted money from the Cork developer Owen O'Callaghan in return for blocking Mr Gilmartin's plans to build a Dublin shopping centre.
Tánaiste and Progressive Democrats leader Michael McDowell confirmed that Mr Ahern had told him about Ms Larkin's involvement last October.
"As I understand it the Taoiseach told me some time ago that the man who leased the house to them, under an arrangement when they would lease for a certain period of time and then purchase it from him, financed the upgrading of the home and its fitting out," he said.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny adopted a careful attitude to the latest information, describing it as "the latest bizarre twist in a catalogue of revelations in the case" but he expressed confidence that the Mahon tribunal would eventually get to the bottom of it.
Mr Kenny added that the episode would not distract him from the "real issues" in the campaign.
Meanwhile, Minister for Finance Brian Cowen launched a blistering attack on Fine Gael and Labour, claiming they had failed to mention jobs and the economy on the opening day of the campaign.
Mr Cowen said the party would be challenging the detail and credibility of the alternative government's economic proposals, in the course of the campaign.
"We accept the tough scrutiny that comes from being in government," he said. But he claimed that, in contrast, the plans of Fine Gael and Labour "haven't even begun to be scrutinised".
The Minister quoted a remark made by former Australian prime minister Paul Keating who told his opposition, "We intend to burn you slowly on this barbie".
"Pat Rabbitte and Enda Kenny have been around a long time and this is their last chance of getting into government, and they'll say and do anything to get into it. That's the bottom line," he said.
Fine Gael deputy leader and finance spokesman Richard Bruton said Mr Cowen's attack was baseless. "Perhaps angry that his highly anticipated economic attack document was laughed into oblivion just two weeks ago, Mr Cowen is hoping that if he repeats a false attack often enough that somehow it will become true," Mr Bruton said.