Tánaiste Michael McDowell today broke his silence on the latest controversy surrounding the Taoiseach's finances as senior figures in Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats sought to present a united front.
Mr McDowell was reportedly furious he had not been informed that the Taoiseach had bought his house from a man who attended a meeting in Manchester at which Berite Ahern received €12,000.
After failing to address the matter in the past 24 hours, Mr McDowell denied claims he had gone to ground saying he had not cancelled engagements and was working at his department as usual.
He acknowledged the relationship within the Coalition had been damaged by the revelation that businessman but that the difficulties "were not my creation or my party's creation".
He added: "The Government is safe if the damage that has been done to the Government in recent times is repaired."
With talks between himself and Mr Ahern scheduled for today and tomorrow, the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice also pointedly advised members of his own party and Fianna Fáil to refrain from making public comment on the issue.
Mr McDowell reportedly refused to take the order of business in the Dáil yesterday because he felt he would be facing questions he did not know the answer to.
But speaking in Limerick today, Mr Ahern said he replaced Mr McDowell because he was in a better position to answer Opposition queries.
"People were saying that there were issues that I should clarify so the best way of doing that was to go in and do it in an ordered way so I was very glad to do that," he said.
He insisted Fianna Fáil wanted to continue in Government with the PDs and that he would be "very glad" to keep Mr McDowell informed about issues surrounding his finances.
"We don't want any change, we don't want any difficulty . . . we don't want this Government to break down," Mr Ahern added.
Speaking at decentralisation announcement in Tullamore today Minister for Finance Brian Cowen and PD Minister of State Tom Parlon also presented a united front, with the latter saying Mr Ahern and Mr McDowell would be have talks later today and tomorrow.
Earlier, former Tánaiste Mary Harney said the Coalition partners had worked through difficulties in the past and that she hoped it would happen in this case. However, she acknowledged that Mr McDowell has been put in a difficult position.