The Fianna Fáil general secretary and other senior figures are to have talks with the party organisation in Mayo in September to help to prepare the way for Beverley Flynn's readmission to the party.
Last night, Fianna Fáil sources said Ms Flynn's insistence that she did nothing wrong in National Irish Bank, even though a High Court inspectors' report found that she helped to orchestrate tax evasion, will not impede her return to the party.
They said her past behaviour was no longer relevant because she had received "the ultimate sanction - the support of the people of Mayo". However, her defence of her conduct on RTÉ radio's News At Oneprogramme yesterday raised concerns among some in Fianna Fáil that she had brought undue attention to herself again.
A spokesman for Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said her return would be a matter for the parliamentary party and the local organisation in Mayo to consider over coming months.
Denying charges that it had been pressured by Fianna Fáil to settle, RTÉ said it had been involved in "a debt collection situation" and had got the best deal it could. "We can absolutely guarantee that there was no political interference, one way or the other," said an RTÉ spokesman, who said negotiations had been under way for some considerable time.
Fianna Fáil parliamentary party chairman Séamus Kirk said he believed it would take some time, "probably a few months", to prepare for Ms Flynn's readmission to the party. He said she was ready "to pay her dues".
Asked about her conduct as a senior financial manager with NIB, Mr Kirk said: "Sometimes the decisions we take would be different if we had the time to reflect on our actions. People can be impetuous."
He said he was "not privy to the exact arrangements" agreed between Ms Flynn and the Taoiseach in return for her support for the Coalition, and whether they included terms for her readmission to the party. However, he said Fianna Fáil would have to take notice of the opinions of the local organisation in Mayo. "All these things have to be done in consultation with, and respect for, the views of others."
However, the secretary of the Fianna Fáil constituency organisation in Mayo, Eamon Joyce, said the local organisation was split 50/50 on whether Ms Flynn, who has twice been thrown out of the party, should be allowed back in.
"Some people have found it difficult to absorb, but preparations have to be made later in the summer to welcome her back. If the boss says it is on, it's on," Mr Joyce said yesterday.
"The people who are suffering in this are the people of Castlebar because we have not had any ministerial representation for some time. It is to be welcomed that she is being spoken about as a minister of state down the line.
"The organisation would be better to have her back. Fianna Fáil is in a very bad way in Mayo at the moment. There is no way that it is going to recover without her coming back," he said.
Meanwhile, Fine Gael TD Bernard Durkan demanded that RTÉ publish the settlement it reached with Ms Flynn and explain how it intends to pay for the shortfall.
Mary Carolan adds:
The settlement between RTÉ and Ms Flynn is expected to be announced before Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne on Monday next when bankruptcy proceedings brought by RTÉ are listed before the judge. It is also expected the judge will be asked to discontinue separate proceedings in which Ms Flynn has challenged the constitutionality of laws under which a bankrupt cannot be a member of the Dáil.
