The Government is putting severe pressure on Aer Rianta to produce its report later today on the "brandy and cigars affair" which ministers hope will clear the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, of any impropriety in the matter.
However, an Aer Rianta spokesman said last night that its inquiry into claims that Mr Brennan left unpaid a €5,000 bill for drink and cigars over a decade ago may not be completed until tomorrow.
The company is continuing to interview a number of key individuals, and is examining documentation from the period when the alleged incident occurred.
With the secretary-general of the Department of Transport, Ms Julie O'Neill, expected to complete an inquiry within her Department today, the Government is anxious to publish both reports together as soon as possible. Government sources said yesterday they believed the investigations would exonerate Mr Brennan of any wrongdoing arising from the matter, reported in the Sunday Independent.
They said they therefore wanted the reports out as soon as possible. "We don't want this to drag on over the weekend," said one source.
Political controversy over the affair died down yesterday as Opposition politicians waited for the results of the inquiries to be published.
While Aer Rianta is continuing to examine documents and interview senior officials, it is not known whether anything has emerged to back up the claim that a bill for drink and cigars, allegedly given to the Minister for distribution as Christmas presents, was unpaid.
The Aer Rianta inquiry is seeking to provide answers to a list of questions sent to it this week by the Department of Transport. The Department is understood to have uncovered no invoice in its files for the goods in question.
Aer Rianta is studying substantial documentation from the period in question - 1989 to 1992 - but it is not known whether any of this will back up the claim.
Mr Brennan has said that to the best of his recollection, he "never personally received, authorised or had knowledge of the purchasing or delivery of the alleged goods referred to in the Sunday Independent article of Sunday last".
The affair has exacerbated tensions between Aer Rianta, the national airports authority, and the Government.
The company is strongly opposed to proposals under consideration by Mr Brennan to take Cork and Shannon airports away from the control of Aer Rianta. There are also tensions over his decision to receive expressions of interest for the construction of a second terminal at Dublin Airport that would not be controlled by Aer Rianta.
However, Aer Rianta has denied that the story concerning Mr Brennan emanated from the company. An outgoing Aer Rianta director, Mr Dermot O'Leary, has also denied that he was the source of the story, but has backed up the report that a Minister left a bill for drink and cigars unpaid. He has said this had been drawn to his attention by the then chief executive of the company, Mr Dermot Keogh, when Mr O'Leary was acting chairman of the company.