The Government has refused to bow to Opposition demands to give more time for Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to face questioning next week about payments received in 1993 and 1994.
Under the current order for the Dáil on Tuesday, Mr Ahern will make a five-minute statement, followed by statements of a similar length from the leaders of Fine Gael and Labour, and Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins.
This will be followed immediately by the usual 21-minute period allowed for Ministers' questions, but the Opposition insists this is grossly insufficient.
Government chief whip Tom Kitt yesterday was in contact with Fine Gael whip Paul Kehoe, Labour's Emmet Stagg, the Greens' Dan Boyle, Sinn Féin's Aengus Ó Snodaigh and Independent TD Tony Gregory.
Mr Kitt furiously rejected a report in yesterday's Irish Times that he had been criticised by senior Fianna Fáil Ministers on Thursday over his handling of Opposition calls for extra time.
Some Fianna Fáil Ministers are known to have been unhappy that he conceded ground to the Opposition during sharp exchanges in the Dáil on Thursday morning, when he offered to agree the Dáil's business "by consensus".
"No Minister raised this matter with me, or came to my office to discuss it. I obviously consulted with the Taoiseach, and the proposal I made to the Opposition whips is a reasonable one," he said.
Progressive Democrats deputy leader and whip Liz O'Donnell supported the Government's offer of time: "I think it is an adequate amount of time. I am sure that people will use their five minutes to ask questions."
But Labour leader Pat Rabbitte said the time offer showed the Government had reneged on PD leader and Tánaiste Michael McDowell's pledge of "full accountability".
It is "astonishing", he said, that Mr Kitt had "apparently on the direct instructions of the Taoiseach" refused "to budge from the pathetically inadequate" offer of time.
Following yesterday's intervention by Mr McDowell the Opposition naturally assumed that "accountability to the requisite degree" meant an adequate opportunity to question Mr Ahern.
"There is little doubt now that the Fianna Fáil/PD Government is facing its biggest ever crisis and, unless the Taoiseach can provide satisfactory answers, may well be in terminal decline.
"For over a week the Opposition parties have been seeking clear answers from the Taoiseach on the source, nature and purpose of a series of cash payments made to him in the 1993-94 period.
"Far from providing the answers required or offering any clarity each successive intervention by the Taoiseach has raised new issues and additional questions," he said.
The Progressive Democrats' leader, having "dodged the issue for a week and then issued a self-serving statement on Wednesday night" has "at last discovered serious issues in the Taoiseach's conduct".
Mr McDowell had made it clear that Mr Ahern must identify all the donors who gave him money in Manchester, the nature of the event held, what the money was intended for, and for what it was used.
"Clearly Fianna Fáil has ignored the Tánaiste's pledge of full accountability and has resolved to tough it out. Whether or not, the PDs can live in Government with this calculated put-down, [ they] are entirely unacceptable to Labour," he said.
