The Government has ended one of the most turbulent Dail sessions of recent times by comfortably winning a confidence vote and claiming the coalition would survive until 2002.
However, as Fianna Fail and the PDs displayed a united front through yesterday's six and a half-hour debate, the O'Flaherty controversy continued on several different fronts.
In the Supreme Court, the State agreed not to take any further steps for another week in relation to Mr Hugh O'Flaherty's appointment, pending a Supreme Court hearing of Mr Denis Riordan's attempt to have the appointment postponed.
Mr O'Flaherty has sent a solicitor's letter to RTE demanding an investigation into its coverage of the controversy. The letter suggests the station had a view of the appointment which it has been putting forward in contravention of its statutory obligation to be objective and impartial.
The letter was sent to the chairman of the RTE Authority, Mr Paddy Wright, earlier this week by solicitor Mr Noel Smyth, who has also acted for Mr Ben Dunne.
Meanwhile the European Investment Bank has said it is prepared to consider other applications or nominations for the post of vice-president, confirming that it is not obliged to accept the Government's nomination of Mr O'Flaherty.
In response to a challenge to its practice of appointing the nominees of member states for such posts, the bank has acknowledged that this practice is not specifically provided for in the bank's own statute.
The secretary general of the bank said in a letter this week to Mr Michael Nugent, a writer and political campaigner, that other applications or nominations received in time would be considered.
After a sometimes rancorous debate in the Dail in which more than 40 TDs spoke, the motion of confidence was passed by 84 votes to 80. There was cheering and palpable relief on the Government benches when the result was announced, allowing the coalition to win a three-month respite from Dail pressure over the summer recess, which lasts until October 3rd.
Senior Fianna Fail politicians and advisers will hold several meetings in the coming weeks to discuss the damage done to the party by recent events.
They are expected to examine means of avoiding what many party figures believe were avoidable controversies over both the O'Flaherty nomination and the evidence that the party did not give crucial documentation to the Moriarty Tribunal.
Every Fianna Fail TD received a letter from Mr Ahern in advance of yesterday's debate requesting their presence in the Dail chamber yesterday morning, and a good presence there throughout the day.
Mr Ahern opened the debate in the morning, hailing the Government's success in Northern Ireland. He said Ireland had a sustained record as the best performing economy in the Western world. He acknowledged the contribution of the Progressive Democrats.
The Tanaiste, Ms Harney, said that she did not believe that Ireland was a corrupt country because corrupt countries simply do not set up tribunals and inquiries to investigate corruption. However, that was not to say that Ireland was not without corruption.
Mr John Bruton, the Fine Gael leader, described various aspects of the Government's performance as grotesque, unbelievable, bizarre and unprecedented.
"It is bizarre that we have a Fianna Fail party still in office that could select Ray Burke to be Foreign Minister, Deputy Denis Foley as its senior representative on a Dail committee to maintain financial probity, Deputy Liam Lawlor as its representative on a Dail committee on political ethics, and Deputy John Ellis as its nominee to head a Dail committee to protect the financial interests of farmers."
The leader of the Labour Party, Mr Ruairi Quinn, attacked the Government's record on a number of issues, including the O'Flaherty nomination, inflation and its effects on social welfare recipients, hospital waiting lists, asylum seekers and house prices.