Mayo deputy's place in parliamentary party will be in danger if she loses RTÉ libel appeal.
The Fianna Fáil ethics committee inquiry into Ms Beverley Cooper Flynn's handling of investments for her father, Mr Padraig Flynn, is to meet again next week, following an initial meeting yesterday evening.
A number of members of the committee, headed by the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party chairman, were unable to attend yesterday's meeting because the notice was too short, party sources said last night.
However, the inquiry will be suspended next week until the Mahon tribunal's investigation into the Gilmartin allegations is finished, once they have arranged for copies of all documents to be collected.
In the Dáil this week, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, made it clear that the party will not carry out a parallel inquiry into the Mayo TD while the tribunal is operating.
However, her place in the parliamentary party will be in danger if she loses next week's Supreme Court appeal against the costs awarded against her by the High Court in her RTÉ libel action.
The leader of the Labour Party, Mr Pat Rabbitte, said the Taoiseach now accepts that he "may well have" been told by Mr Tom Gilmartin that the latter had given £50,000 to Mr Flynn.
Mr Ahern has tried, claimed Mr Rabbitte, to put as much distance "as possible" between himself and the allegation, even though he has been given numerous opportunities to deal with it.
In the Dáil yesterday, Mr Ahern repeated his long-established argument that he had no memory at all of being told by Mr Gilmartin of his £50,000 payment to Mr Flynn.
"He may well have. If he said that he gave a donation to Fianna Fáil through Padraig Flynn, who was then party treasurer, it would not have registered with me.
"It would have registered as a big amount, admittedly, although I do not know how many subscriptions we would have got at that time, but it would not have registered.
"With an enormous developer who was spending approximately £250 million on one project and a few hundred million pounds on another project, it would not have struck me as anything odd," Mr Ahern said.
Responding last night, Mr Rabbitte said Mr Ahern is now prepared to accept that the telephone conversation with Mr Gilmartin did take place.
"If it takes so long to get even that much information out of the Taoiseach, one would have to wonder is there any possibility of getting straight answers about the range of murky events that drove Mr Gilmartin out of Ireland," he said.