The Dail was adjourned amid uproar twice after the Taoiseach told the House that the rainbow government had made the decision, on legal advice, not to recover £70 million in fines imposed by the EU Commission for irregularities in the beef intervention system.

On Tuesday Mr Pat Rabbitte (DL, Dublin South West) was suspended from the House when he failed to resume his seat after insisting that the Government was obliged to recover as much money as possible. His party colleague, Mr Eamon Gilmore (Dun Laoghaire) said the taxpayer was "stuck for £70 million" because of "irregularities or negligence".

Mr Rabbitte and Mr Gilmore were ministers of State in the rainbow government.

After repeated Opposition demands yesterday for clarification of the matter, Mr Ahern said the confusion which existed was due mainly to the fact that Mr Rabbitte and Mr Gilmore had on the previous day sought to confuse two separate issues.

There were a number of cases involving the Goodman company versus the State and the State versus Goodman. There was an ongoing case relating to Goodman versus the State on export refunds. There were cases which the State had taken against Goodman relating to alleged irregularities in Rathkeale and Shannon.

Then there was the case of the £70 million, which, he said, the DL leader, Mr Proinsias De Rossa, would know all about. The European Court of Justice had made a judgment in favour of the EU Commission and a statement against Ireland's appeal on the disallowance by the Commission of some £50 million for inadequate control systems for intervention beef in 1990 and 1991, and £18 million in respect of tendering procedures in 1991 and 1992.

He said the question of recovering the money was examined thoroughly by a working group which included representatives of the Office of the Attorney General, set up when Mr De Rossa, was a minister.

It was considered by that group that recovery of the money could not legally be sustained. If a legal means of recovering the allowances had been possible, the Department of Agriculture would certainly have pursued it vigorously.

Related to this was the question of whether AIBP should be pursued for the non-declaration of the de-boning yields which, under the regulations, were the property of the intervention agency. Evidence given by one of AIBP's officers in the course of the beef tribunal had referred to this practice.

The Department of Agriculture and Food had examined the matter in great depth in conjunction with the group set up by the Government.

He understood that summonses had been served on AIBP in Ardee on Tuesday afternoon. The next step would be for the Department to submit a statement of claim within 21 days.

Mr Ahern said Mr Rabbitte had either totally forgotten, but more likely clearly remembered but sought to confuse what happened relating to the £70 million. He added that Mr De Rossa and Mr Rabbitte, both of whom attended cabinet meetings when the previous government was in power, would recall that the recovery group looked at the matter at great length, sought legal advice, and came to the conclusion.

On March 27th, 1996, the then minister for agriculture, Mr Ivan Yates, had said he had been advised that it was not legally possible to recover the money in the form of a general levy on the meat industry or through levies on companies against which there was evidence of wrongdoing.

Mr Ahern said the current Government had continued exactly in the way set out by the rainbow. He added that he took responsibility for any confusion created in media briefings on Tuesday and apologised for it.

When the Taoiseach had finished his remarks, the Ceann Comhairle, Mr Seamus Pattison, called the next item of business, but Mr De Rossa and Mr Gilmore insisted on speaking. Mr Pattison said he had given ample latitude on the matter.

Mr Gilmore said the Taoiseach had accused him of trying to confuse the issue and he should be able to reply.

Following noisy and heated exchanges, the Ceann Comhairle then adjourned the House for 15 minutes.

When it resumed, there were further heated exchanges as the Ceann Comhairle insisted that the next item of business be taken. But the DL deputies insisted on speaking, and Mr Pattison then adjourned the House for a further 10 minutes.

On the resumption, Mr De Rossa said the Ceann Comhairle had given no opportunity to those referred to by Mr Ahern to refute what had been alleged about them.

The Ceann Comhairle said that there were other ways in which such matters could be pursued in an orderly fashion.

Mr Gilmore said the matters referred to were quite complex, and the Taoiseach was relying on this complexity to create his own degree of confusion about the issues.

Mr Pattison said Mr Gilmore could seek to make a personal statement to the House.

Asked by the Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, if he would incorporate in the Appropriation Bill the power to recoup the amount of the fine from private individuals who may have been responsible for fines imposed on the Government, the Taoiseach said he doubted that it could be done but he would have it looked at.

Earlier, Mr De Rossa had said the Taoiseach should come into the House and explain clearly what exactly was going on in relation to the £70 million fine on the Irish taxpayer "as a result of fraud by certain beef companies".

He demanded that the Taoiseach explain to the House why there had been confusion in briefings given by the Government press secretary.

"Is the Taoiseach aware that this £70 million, which is now going to be extracted from the taxpayer, would more than twice over wipe out the hospital waiting lists in this country and indeed save lives?"

Mr Emmet Stagg (Labour, Kildare North) asked if the Taoiseach would consider making time available to discuss the £70 million fine and the three versions now available. If the Government took no action, "crooks and gangsters who ripped off the farming community and the Irish taxpayer to the tune of £70 million will, in fact, get off scot-free".

Mr Trevor Sargent (Green Party, Dublin North) said that in the past the Dail had returned in the middle of the summer to facilitate Mr Larry Goodman. He wondered if the Government was now going to follow up the matter and if it would be referred to the Criminal Assets Bureau.

Mr Joe Higgins (Socialist Party, Dublin West) said the Taoiseach should make time for the leader of the Progressive Democrats, Ms Harney, to speak so that she could explain why her party was supporting the Government "in having the taxpayer pick up the bill for crooks in the beef industry".

He added: "I understand why Fianna Fail might agree with that, but the protestations of the PDs would have led us in the past to believe otherwise." He said there should be an explanation as to why "social criminals in the business establishment should deprive taxpayers of funds which could be used, for example, to provide housing for thousands of people suffering on the housing list".

Mr Gilmore said that on the previous day the Minister of State for Agriculture, Mr Ned O'Keeffe, had said it was not intended to pursue the recovery of the £70 million. He challenged the Taoiseach to say if what Mr O'Keeffe had said was the collective view of the Government.