KPN and Telia will make a £1.6 billion payment to the Exchequer next February under a "claw-back" agreement made when the Dutch and Swedish companies entered a strategic alliance in 1996.

The Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, said that under an agreement negotiated between the then Minister, Mr Michael Lowry, and KPN/Telia, the State would gain 60 per cent of the rise in value of their shareholding after three years above a certain threshold.

She accused her Fine Gael counterpart, Mr Ivan Yates, of trying to ensure that Eircom's share price fell. "That is his one aim in life."

She said she now had "absolutely no responsibility" for Eircom in relation to its commercial operations or its capital structure. The decision by KPN and Telia to withdraw was a matter for those parties.

Ms O'Rourke said she had no need to come into the House but had done so because of the "erroneous mis-truths that were peddled all day yesterday by Ivan Yates".

She urged her colleagues to "exercise great prudence in refraining to say anything under privilege which might give rise to erroneous investor perceptions of Eircom, thereby affecting the company's share price".

Mr Yates had raised the issue on the adjournment with Mr Brian O'Shea, Labour's communications spokesman. Mr Yates said he went to KPN's website and the sole reason it gave for selling its stake in Eircom was the "exercise of effective management control which was not provided by the current investment in Eircom".

He wanted to know when the Minister knew that KPN was pulling out.

Mr O'Shea said the news of the pullout by KPN followed quickly after the collapse of the phone system in Dublin for a number of hours 10 days ago.

"It is important that these issues are put in context. Nearly half a million Irish citizens invested in Eircom and as shareholders they expect the board of that company to explain these developments. In addition, thousands of Irish workers depend on this company for employment and their needs must be foremost in our minds when raising this important issue."

He asked if the Minister had discussions with the board of Eircom about its capacity to continue its expansion of telecommunications infrastructure after the departure of the strategic partners.

Mr O'Shea also wanted to know if the Minister had been in contact with the Director of Telecommunications Regulations.

"Is the minister aware of any proposal by Eircom to source another strategic partner with the capital and technical know-how to drive the expansion of the Irish telecoms market forward?"

Ms O'Rourke said she had taken legal advice about what she could say and had already gone beyond that.