The Fine Gael front bench will decide this morning whether to censure the EU Commissioner, Mr Padraig Flynn, for failing to make a full public statement on the £50,000 which he allegedly received from Mr Tom Gilmartin in 1989.
In a letter to the Taoiseach, which was read into the Dail record yesterday, Mr Flynn said: "At the outset when my co-operation was sought by the [Flood] tribunal, it was requested by the tribunal representatives that neither I nor my legal advisers would discuss with, or divulge to, any person the matters discussed with the tribunal."
Mr Ahern told Opposition leaders that "insofar as Commissioner Flynn can answer, it seems to me that he has answered."
He said he was glad to have received a response from Mr Flynn to his letter "conveying the very legitimate concerns" expressed by the Dail on February 10th.
"His reply goes some way towards explaining his position. Indeed, it would have been helpful to us all to have had a statement to this effect at an earlier stage, particularly on the day myself and the Tanaiste asked him to make a statement," the Taoiseach added.
A spokesman for the Taoiseach said last night that Mr Ahern had made no arrangements yet to meet Mr Flynn in Brussels today. If he did meet him, however, the focus would be on Agenda 2000.
Meanwhile, a Fine Gael spokesman said that the party's front bench would give very serious consideration today to what the Taoiseach had to say in response to Mr Flynn's letter.
They were also seeking legal advice on the validity of Mr Flynn's argument that he could not go public on the question of the £50,000 on the direction of the tribunal.
Fine Gael sources later queried whether the "direction" invoked by the Commissioner now had been breached by him by his statements on The Late Late Show.
Pressed strongly by Opposition spokesmen on the contents of Mr Flynn's letter, the Taoiseach responded that the letter made clear something which he had not known previously.
He did not know until he received a faxed copy of the letter last Wednesday that Mr Flynn had given an undertaking to the tribunal that neither he, nor his legal advisers, "would discuss with or divulge to any person the matters discussed with the tribunal".
The Commissioner's letter revealed, for the first time yesterday, that the Flood tribunal had been in contact with Mr Flynn seeking his co-operation last year.
"I have voluntarily made a statement to the Flood tribunal last year, many months prior to the recent controversy," he said in his letter.
The Luton developer, Mr Gilmartin, told The Irish Times last night that he had been advised to make a donation to Fianna Fail in 1989. He repeated that he gave £50,000 to Mr Flynn, intended for Fianna Fail.
Mr Gilmartin also stated that a peculiar question now crossed his mind arising from Mr Flynn's letter.
"When did Mr Flynn talk to the tribunal? Furthermore, why did he go on The Late Late Show? If the issues were so important that they be treated as subjudice now, why did that not apply to his appearance on The Late Late Show?" he asked.
The deputy leader of the Labour Party, Mr Brendan Howlin, accused the Taoiseach of a total volte-face in his attitude to the Commissioner.
The refusal of Mr Flynn to respond in any detailed way to Dail Eireann had been accepted by the Taoiseach who, clearly with his Government colleagues, had reversed his stated position of three weeks ago.
It was a puzzling change of heart considering the Taoiseach's stated wish to quickly restore confidence in politics in this country, Mr Howlin said.
