FINE GAEL leader Enda Kenny will challenge Tánaiste Brian Cowen in the Dáil tomorrow over his continued support for Taoiseach Bertie Ahern following the latest disclosures at the Mahon tribunal.
As the fallout from the Taoiseach's evidence to the inquiry continued at the weekend, Mr Kenny went on a media offensive yesterday with a round of interviews deliberately targeting Mr Cowen for criticism.
The shift of focus to the Tánaiste is partly necessitated by Mr Ahern's absence from the Dáil this week on Government business abroad, with Mr Cowen representing the Government at Leaders' Questions.
But Fine Gael strategists have said they also wish to highlight what they claim is Mr Cowen's curiously low profile on this issue since Christmas and what they portrayed last night as his "equivocal" defence of Mr Ahern at the Ógra Fianna Fáil conference in on Saturday.
Tactically, party sources said, Mr Kenny wants to force Mr Cowen into standing over "untenable and unbelievable evidence".
The Fine Gael leader will specifically home in on the disclosures that Mr Ahern's political organisation in Dublin Central gave a £30,000 loan to his then partner Celia Larkin in 1993, a loan that has only been repaid this year.
They will also bring up a political donation of £5,000 in 1994 which Mr Ahern accepts he used for personal purposes and which is now the subject of discussions with the Revenue Commissioners.
"What we have had from Mr Cowen and his colleagues has been a blanket defence of Bertie Ahern," Mr Kenny told The Irish Times.
"How can he stand by a Taoiseach when new facts have emerged about the payment to Celia Larkin, the B/T bank account, and issues of tax compliance?"
Mr Kenny said if Mr Cowen continued to support Mr Ahern, his party would table a motion of no confidence in the Government, which would be the third such motion since September, all derived from Mr Ahern's dealings with the inquiry.
But speaking at an Ógra event on Saturday, the Taoiseach repeated that he had not been compromised by the payment of the loan to Ms Larkin. Separately, Mr Cowen and another senior Fianna Fáil Minister, Noel Dempsey, also declared support for Mr Ahern, with Mr Dempsey emphasising that Mr Ahern was not corrupt.
But in marked contrast to the concerted criticism of tribunal "bias" following Mr Ahern's last appearance in December, both Mr Cowen and Mr Dempsey pointedly expressed their full and unconditional confidence in the planning tribunal.
"The tribunal is operating to the best of its ability in an independent way. I don't have any crib or query with that," said Mr Cowen.
In separate comments to RTÉ's The Week in Politics and TV3's The Political Party, Mr Dempsey emphasised that the tribunals have confirmed corruption and fulfilled their purpose, albeit at a slow pace.
Mr Cowen, in what seemed a tacit acceptance that the disclosure of the loan to Ms Larkin will have political repercussions, described it as a payment that was not a "run-of-the-mill disbursement".
However, he said there was "a particular set of circumstances" behind the loan and also pointed out that it had been repaid in recent times.
"There was no loss of funds to the party at the end of the day and that is important," he said.
Asked if he personally had confidence in Mr Ahern, Mr Cowen said: "Absolutely, I am his Tánaiste and he enjoys my support."
However, several Fianna Fáil TDs privately said yesterday they sensed that Mr Cowen's defence of Mr Ahern was slightly more tentative and less robust than on previous occasions.