Fine Gael came under pressure yesterday from the Government parties over the $50,000 donation and its non-disclosure to the Moriarty tribunal.
The Progressive Democrats called for a full investigation by the Oireachtas Committee on Public Enterprise and Transport into all the circumstances surrounding the granting of the mobile phone licence to Esat Digifone in 1995.
Mr Des O'Malley TD has written to the Government Chief Whip, Mr Seamus Brennan, and to the committee chairman, Mr Sean Doherty, informing them of the party's wish to have an investigation take place.
The decision was taken following a PD party meeting yesterday.
Fianna Fail said that serious inconsistencies had arisen in the accounts of Fine Gael and Mr Michael Noonan which required immediate clarification. Mr Martin Cullen, Minister of State for Public Works, said that these issues cast doubt over the level of co-operation which the party had been giving to the Moriarty tribunal.
Mr Cullen said that Mr Noonan claimed the first he knew about this issue was last Sunday and that he immediately took action to reverse the previous decision to withhold the relevant information from the Moriarty tribunal.
"However on February 18th the Sunday Tribune led with a story which laid out the key elements of this story. Michael Noonan was leader for over a week at this stage and the article states that Fine Gael `refused to discuss the matter when asked specific questions'," Mr Cullen said.
He said it was also now clear that detailed inquiries were made of Fine Gael about this donation at the time Mr Noonan became leader.
"Taking these together, it is hardly credible that, as it is now claimed, he did not inform the tribunal about the donation because he only heard about it two days ago," Mr Cullen added.
According to the PD statement, the revelations relating to the donation raised serious questions about the involvement of Fine Gael in the granting of the mobile phone licence and the party's level of co-operation with the tribunals.
"It is startling that Fine Gael sought a legal opinion on the donation instead of meeting their obligation to co-operate fully with the tribunal. It is incumbent on all individuals and political parties to co-operate fully with the tribunals," the statement said.