The Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, sharply criticised the Taoiseach and told him he had to stop blaming everybody else "like a little boy lost who thinks that everybody else is responsible for all his misfortunes".

The only reason that Ray Burke had to go through such a painful and prolonged process over the past month was because "the Taoiseach had all the knowledge he needed, but none of the judgment to apply it".

The deputy leader of the Labour Party, Mr Ruairi Quinn, also believed the Taoiseach had to take full responsibility for events, adding that the problem was that many people in both Fianna Fail and Fine Gael believed there was nothing inherently wrong with the rezoning process and with accepting £30,000 as a gift.

In an acerbic address constantly interrupted by Government TDs, Mr Bruton also questioned the continuation in office "of any of the people who sustained that system of government in being under Mr Haughey and that includes the Taoiseach as well".

He said the resignation of the Minister for Foreign Affairs was made "almost inevitable by the vacillation of his own party leader and Taoiseach as well as the covert undermining of his position by his own partner party in Government and by anonymous Government sources".

He told the Taoiseach the burden of proof concerning the suitability of Ministers "is different to that required in a court of law. The greater good of the country must be considered when judging whether a Minister should be appointed to, or should stay in office".

The Taoiseach had failed to show "decisive and timely leadership, courage and judgment". Mr Ahern "in his normal style, listened, agonised, dithered and did nothing".

He saw no need for a planning tribunal until Magill magazine published extracts from a letter. "Suddenly, following publication of this letter on this one case, the Taoiseach wanted all planning issues everywhere investigated. He had been opposed to any investigation before." He had been "reluctantly dragged to a point where we have now agreed terms of reference for a new planning tribunal".

Defending Fine Gael's role when in government, Mr Bruton said they did not act on the passports issue because Mr Burke was not a Minister in the last government. Therefore the issue of his suitability for office did not arise.

The Taoiseach said the internal department report was leaked to the media in pursuit of a political agenda. He challenged the Taoiseach to name the person who leaked the Cole report to The Irish Times.

There were persistent comments from the Government side to "name the person" and "name her". The Taoiseach said Mr Bruton had a copy of the report.

Mr Quinn said his party had "consistently and profoundly disagreed with Ray Burke and his politics for virtually the 20 years of his service in public life". Mr Burke had said in the House that he had done nothing wrong and he was guilty of no wrongdoing. The problem was that many people in Fianna Fail and Fine Gael believed that the rezoning scandals that characterised the last 10 years in Co Dublin were in fact not wrong and that a gift of £30,000 and its acceptance was excessive and imprudent but inherently not wrong.

"We fundamentally disagree with that ..."

???ail and Fine Gael on the one hand and Labour and Democratic Left on the other. Mr Quinn added that a new kind of civil war politics was emerging between the two large parties, "a civil war of personality politics, a civil war of gutting one another", and this devalued public life. He said the final responsibility for what happened to Mr Burke lay with the Taoiseach. "But it's precisely because of your perception of the whole rezoning process in north County Dublin, that you failed to see that once it became known, the public pressure would be relentless."

He added it was a senior Fianna Fail source who told the Sunday Tribune that Mr Burke absented himself from the Cabinet when the terms of reference for the Moriarty tribunal were being discussed and this was the first step to his departure from Government.

He added that the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, made it publicly known that she was meeting the Taoiseach to discuss the issue it was to give some kind of "solace" to her supporters, and in so doing "inevitably turned on the heat on Ray Burke".

"The sad plight of the Burke family now and the reduced support that you have in this House and the visibly shaken confidence of your back-benchers is all brought about as a result of the decision you took in June," he said.