The Taoiseach rejected Opposition demands that he make a personal statement to the House on his knowledge of Mr Ray Burke's financial affairs when he appointed him Minister for Foreign Affairs in 1997.

The matter was first raised on the Order of Business by the Labour leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, who moved a motion calling for an emergency debate on "the direct conflict between the statement made to the Dail by the Taoiseach on May 28th last year and the testimony given to the Flood Tribunal by the Tanaiste on Friday last regarding the Taoiseach's knowledge of financial donations made to Mr Ray Burke at the time he was nominated as Minister for Foreign Affairs by the Taoiseach in June 1997."

He was ruled out of order by the Leas Cheann Comhairle, Dr Rory O'Hanlon.

Mr Quinn said that when a contradiction was brought to the attention of any member of the House, it was reasonable and proper to give to that member an opportunity to come in and clarify the record. Mr Ahern said: "First of all, I do not see any contradiction, if you read the full section and all of the comments that I have made. I am sure these matters are part of a tribunal which is examining all these matters."

Mr Quinn, supported by the Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, continued to press for a statement from Mr Ahern. When Dr O'Hanlon called a vote on the Order of Business, it was challenged by the Opposition parties, but the Government won the division by 68 votes to 57.

Following the division, Mr Bruton said it was very unsatisfactory that there was a contradiction between what the Taoiseach had told the House and what the Tanaiste had told the tribunal. He asked Mr Ahern if he believed that he was accurately reported in the Dail record. Ruling Mr Bruton out of order, Dr O'Hanlon said that the relevance of evidence before a judicial tribunal of inquiry was not a matter for the Order of Business. "The Dail should not attempt to have a parallel tribunal on these matters. It should be borne in mind that the tribunal was established by a resolution of this House and it does not give the House a right to attempt to interfere in any way with its proceedings."

Mr Bruton said he entirely agreed with all of that. "Could I simply say that I wish to ask how the House can regulate the accuracy of its records . . . ?"

Mr Quinn said that a lot of effort went into the operation of the House to ensure that what was said on the record was accurately reported.

Dr O'Hanlon said it was a longstanding tradition that the official report, though not strictly verbatim, was substantially verbatim. After some further noisy exchanges, Dr O'Hanlon called the next business.