Fianna Fail TD Mr Denis Foley ail could become the first deputy to be suspended from the Dail for breaching the Ethics in Public Office Act, following his evidence at the Moriarty tribunal yesterday.
Fianna Fail sources have suggested that Mr Foley is likely to come under pressure over the weekend to resign from the Fianna Fail Parliamentary Party.
At the Moriarty tribunal, Mr Foley admitted that he effectively knew he had an Ansbacher account when the tribunal was established in 1997.
The thrust of Mr Foley's evidence, during cross-examination by council for the tribunal, Mr John Coughlan, was that from the time of the McCracken tribunal in 1996, he was "still hoping against hope" that he was not involved in the Ansbacher scheme.
Under the Ethics Act TDs are required to make a declaration if they have a material interest in any subject on which they speak or vote. Mr Foley made no such declaration in 1997 when he voted on an amendment to the terms of reference of the Moriarty tribunal.
Given this, the Committee on Member's Interests is likely to uphold a complaint made against him by the leader of the Labour Party, Mr Ruairi Quinn.
Mr Quinn said last night that Mr Foley had "effectively conceded he is guilty of the complaint I made against him". He said the public would be waiting to see what action the Taoiseach now intended to take.
"The Taoiseach can hide no longer. As leader of Fianna Fail and Taoiseach, the issue now rests with him. With each passing day, the Taoiseach's stated commitment to standards in politics and within Fianna Fail becomes more threadbare," Mr Quinn said.
Mr Foley also revealed at the tribunal that in 1993, he collected from the registered offices of Cement Roadstone Holdings (CRH) on Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin, £10,000 he was withdrawing from his offshore account.
Although it is already known that Mr Des Traynor ran an unauthorised banking service from his CRH chairman's office, it was not previously known that large cash transactions took place on the premises. Mr Traynor had the cash waiting for Mr Foley went he called to the office.
A spokesman for the public company said last night it would not be commenting on specific aspects of the tribunal's evidence.