The Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has expressed his frustration and annoyance this evening at the collapse of the alleged Stormont spying case.
Mr Ahern made little attempt to hide his anger over the failed prosecution of three men, which led to the suspension of the devolved institutions in Northern Ireland in 2002.
Speaking after talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair at 10 Downing Street, Mr Ahern said the affair had caused massive problems both for him and the British Prime Minister, but had now "vanished like snow in June".
A judge at Belfast Crown Court yesterday acquitted Sinn Fein official Denis Donaldson, his son-in-law Ciaran Kearney and civil servant William Mackessy after the Public Prosecution Service said it would offer no further evidence.
The three men were arrested in October 2002 at the time of a police raid on Sinn Fein`s offices at Stormont.
At a Sinn Fein press conference today, Mr Donaldson claimed the prosecution was "a political policing operation" designed to save the position of then Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble.
Mr Ahern said he was unaware of the Sinn Fein conference. He told reporters: "This brought down the institutions and created huge grief for me and for the Prime Minister.
"We had hundreds of troops descending on the Stormont building for what we were told at the time was irrefutable evidence.
"It vanished yesterday with no prosecutions. It was a lot of grief for no prosecutions. I think it is all very interesting and I don't quite understand," he said.
Agencies