Harney and McCreevy supported by Ahern

In the face of mounting opposition criticism the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, is maintaining his stance that the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, and the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, have not acted inappropriately in their dealings with the businessman Mr Ulick McEvaddy.

His continued support for his Ministers came as the McEvaddys issued a statement last night denying they had any proposals awaiting a decision from the Government.

They said they were not making or did not intend to make any proposal for a rail link to Dublin Airport, saying their meeting with Government officials had been "a fact-finding mission to ascertain how a rail link to Dublin Airport would work".

A spokesman for Ms Harney said last night there was no conflict between what she had said and what the McEvaddy brothers had said in their statement over whether or not "a proposal" had in fact been put to the Tanaiste or the Government on the rail link to Dublin Airport.

On RTE yesterday, Ms Harney said she did not support the "proposals" being advanced by the McEvaddys. "I have actually pursued, both in relation to air transport in Dublin and the light rail in Dublin, issues that are directly contrary to the interests of the McEvaddys. I do not support the proposals that are being advanced by the McEvaddys".

The spokesman said the McEvaddys had at the meeting outlined what they hoped to do with the rail link and at no stage was a finalised proposal put to the Tanaiste or the Government. "What the McEvaddys said in their statement is correct," Ms Harney's spokesman said.

Responding to weekend reports that Mr McEvaddy discussed a £150 million rail project with the Tanaiste and the Minister for Finance only weeks before they holidayed in his villa in the south of France, Mr Ahern told Today FM yesterday that he did "not see anything incorrect in what the Ministers have done, meeting business people putting up proposals.

"A Minister nowadays has to comply with their annual statement and as I have said I expect my Ministers, and I know my Ministers, would do that," he said. "I hope we're not getting to a stage in this country where there's an effort to drive a division between legitimate business and the political system. That would be a nonsense."

Referring to the time Ms Harney and Mr McCreevy spent at the McEvaddy villa, the Taoiseach said it was a matter "they would have to declare in their forms, and I have no doubt that they will".

In the statement yesterday, the McEvaddys outlined the position as they saw it on the Huntstown air park, noise reducing or "hushkitting" regulations for jet engines and a rail link to Dublin Airport.

Both Ministers also continued to deny any impropriety in their relationship with the McEvaddy brothers.

Ms Harney, speaking on RTE's Six-One news programme, said: "This issue has nothing to do with me doing anything for somebody. I believe I did nothing wrong."

She added: "If I had realised that private citizens would have been dragged into this controversy and a political football would have been made of it, I would never have gone on the holiday."

Also on RTE, Mr McCreevy denied anything inappropriate in his dealings with the McEvaddys. If the McEvaddys were seeking public-private partnership between themselves and government, he said, they would have to "go through the normal public procurement rules of the EU".

He said he always refused "point blank" to say where he went on his holidays in any particular year, and "that remains the position".