The Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, has called on the Government to publish the IRA statement which formed the basis of the de Chastelain report that decommissioning would take place. The statement was presented to the Decommissioning Commission after the suspension of the Northern institutions last Friday.
A Government spokesman said last night that as the Taoiseach had received the IRA statement in confidence he could not make it public.
The Government considered that publication "would not serve the interests of re-establishment of the institutions or the resolution of the arms issue"
The spokesman confirmed that it was the Government's understanding that the IRA statement did not change from when it was received at 4.30 a.m. on Friday until it was given to the International Commission on Decommissioning about 12 hours later.
However, Mr Bruton said there was "something wrong about a democratically elected government denying information about a paramilitary organisation to the Dail. The Government should be more accountable to the Dail than to the IRA".
An apparent rift between the British and Irish Governments emerged earlier yesterday after the Taoiseach told the Dail that the IRA statement was given by him to the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair.
A Downing Street spokesman later told RTE News that the British government "did not have anything on paper until the second de Chastelain report at about 6.30 p.m. on Friday evening when Peter Mandelson had sight of it."
He added that there was "talk of various things in the ether on Friday, but nothing concrete. We were aware only of various possible forms of words until 90 minutes after Peter Mandelson signed the suspension order."
The Government spokesman said last night - in a statement which he said had been agreed with Downing Street - that a written statement from the IRA leadership was given by Sinn Fein to Irish Government officials early on Friday for transmission in confidence to the Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister.
The statement was faxed to Downing Street by the Government after a 10 a.m. conversation between Mr Ahern and Mr Blair.
This 4.30 a.m. statement from the IRA was later given by the IRA directly to Gen John de Chastelain. The statement only became operative when it was given to Gen de Chastelain.
The Taoiseach and the Prime Minister had a 20-minute telephone conversation yesterday afternoon. They agreed that consultation and contacts with the pro-agreement parties would continue over the coming days. It appears that no agenda for such consultations has yet been set.