Confidential Mahon tribunal documents about the Taoiseach's personal finances are being leaked by somebody within the Cabinet, Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said today.
In a twist to the controversy that has engulfed the General Election campaign, Mr Kenny rejected suggestions by Fianna Fáil ministers that his party was involved in leaking information concerning Mr Ahern's purchase of his house in Drumcondra from a Manchester businessman in the 1990s.
"Nobody in the Fine Gael party is behind any leaks from the Mahon tribunal," Mr Kenny said at the launch of his Election manifesto in Dublin.
"If they want to know, if they really want to know where these leaks are coming from, they should point their finger of accusation across the Cabinet table."
Pushed further, he continued: "Who has been contacting journalists about leaks and giving him information? Who has been tearing pages out of department files and handing them to journalists. Fine Gael is not responsible for this and we don't descend to that level."
A spokesman for Tanaiste Michael McDowell immediately said he "utterly rejected" the slightest suggestion that any Progressive Democrat TD was responsible for the leaks and that the allegation was "beneath contempt."
Leaked transcripts of interviews the Taoiseach gave to the Mahon tribunal have overshadowed the first nine days of the general election campaign.
Mr Ahern has denied any personal links to a £30,000 sum of cash given to his ex-partner Celia Larkin to renovate his rented home in 1994.
He has agreed to provide a full public statement on his financial affairs after demands for clarity by Mr McDowell.
Green Party leader Trevor Sargent said the lack of trust currently being shown between the Government parties was a "recipe for instability".
Mr Sargent said there appears to be more trust between Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams than there is between the Taoiseach and Tánaiste.
"McDowell's attitude to his relationship with the Taoiseach, and the Taoiseach's failure to take action on foot of the Tánaiste's behaviour, has once again undermined and devalued the Office of Taoiseach," he said.
Mr Kenny today also rejected PD junior minister Tom Parlon's claims that Fine Gael were going to drop a "bombshell" towards the end of the campaign.
"This is a complete shambles of a government and it has brought paranoia to a new level," he told reporters.
Minister for Finance Brian Cowen told a press conference yesterday that there had been a "deliberate attempt to damage the Taoiseach through the selective and ongoing leak of information which has been given to the Tribunal."
He added: "The objective has not been to answer questions but to raise them and to do so in the most negative way possible. No reasonable person could believe that those involved in this selective leaking have been seeking to provide a fair or comprehensive picture."