The political fallout from the jury's verdict in the Beverley Cooper-Flynn libel case was less than clear for the Co Mayo TD last night.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, appeared to be hedging his bets in relation to his party colleague, saying in Stockholm that he had not yet had time to assess the judgment. However, he made pointed mention of the fact that Ms Cooper-Flynn had "indicated strongly" that she would appeal the case.
Mr Ahern and others in the Fianna Fail Party are awaiting Mr Justice Morris's ruling on Monday week on costs in the case, which are said to have run to a figure in the region of £1.5 million.
Senior Fianna Fail sources, who had been expecting the worst, appeared to take some comfort from the fact that the jury found RTE had failed to prove the TD induced a retired farmer, Mr James Howard, to evade tax by ignoring the 1993 tax amnesty. They said the judgment was "not good" for Ms Cooper-Flynn and "politically not helpful, but not fatal".
"The big danger would have been if she had been found to have lied in relation to the particular farmer [Mr Howard]. It wasn't a win, it was a loss, but did Charlie Bird win? It was a bit of a fudge. She would have been in awful trouble if it was found she had lied," said one source.
Another said it was too soon to tell what the judgment meant politically for Ms Cooper-Flynn. "The thought of an appeal is quite mind-boggling . . . The awarding of the costs are significant for all kinds of reasons. We will have to wait and see how the Opposition decides to play it."
There was a speedy reaction from the Labour Party leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, who said that after a lengthy trial a jury of her peers had found she advised and encouraged people to evade tax.
Ms Cooper-Flynn, he said, should consider resigning as a Dail deputy, particularly given her position as a member of the Public Accounts Committee. If she did not, then it would be up to the Taoiseach to act.
Fine Gael issued a statement from its deputy finance spokesman, Mr Paul McGrath, also putting pressure on Mr Ahern, asking if it was appropriate if Ms Cooper-Flynn remained a member of the Fianna Fail parliamentary party.
The first woman TD to be elected in Co Mayo, Ms Cooper-Flynn has had ambitions to become a senior minister in a future Fianna Fail administration. But just a bare year after she was first elected she found herself in trouble with the party when she voted in the Dail against a Government motion which called on her father, Mr Padraig Flynn, to clarify his position about an alleged £50,000 donation.
For breaking ranks with the Government on the vote she was expelled for nine months and readmitted in November 1999.
Since then relations between her and some senior party figures have been thorny.
The upcoming appearance of her father at the Flood tribunal also leaves many within the party feeling nervous.