The issue of early release dates for the killers of Det Garda Jerry McCabe was "off the table - and that's it", the Taoiseach repeated in the Dáil.
Mr Ahern had told the House last week that the question of early releases for the four men was off the table and he did not see it going back on.
However, the Fine Gael leader, Mr Enda Kenny, said yesterday that the Limerick Leader had reported that the issue might be revisited.
He called for Mr Ahern to reiterate that he did not see the issue coming back on the table again.
Mr Ahern repeated that there was no change.
"I do not want to engage wordsmiths on this, but it is off the table and that is it."
The Labour leader, Mr Pat Rabbitte, said the Star had reported that the wife of one of the prisoners, a councillor in Co Cavan, "said more or less that the Taoiseach did not know what he was talking about and that she was satisfied that her husband would be released early".
The Taoiseach told him that those responsible had release dates and that they would be released when those dates were reached.
"That is the position. Some of those dates are soon and some of them are not, 'soon' meaning in a few years' time," he said.
Mr Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, Sinn Féin leader in the Dáil, referred to an interview by the PSNI Chief Constable, Mr Hugh Orde, in which he said that he had no idea if the Sinn Féin leadership knew about the Northern Bank robbery.
"How does the Taosieach square that with his own claims?" he asked.
"He has supposedly based his opinion heretofore on PSNI information."
Mr Ahern said he had read the interview.
"He is not a politician, and he made his professional assessment very clear when he met the British Prime Minister and me in the presence of the Garda Commissioner, Noel Conroy, and some of my colleagues," he said.
Mr Ahern said the only way he could get intelligence was when it was presented to him with a "categoric assurance".
"Then one must either say nothing about it, which is what I did many times last year, or one must express it, which is what I did in this instance this year," he added.
