The former Government press secretary, Mr P.J. Mara, said yesterday he had not yet made up his mind whether he would be the Fianna Fail director of elections in the next general election.
Mr Mara's appearance at the Flood tribunal last week has caused unease within Fianna Fail. A party spokesman said yesterday he had no comment to make on whether Mr Mara would be taking up the position.
It had been largely accepted that Mr Mara would take over the role but he told The Irish Times yesterday that it would depend on his work commitments when the occasion arose. He had suffered some ill health recently and that was also a factor, he said.
A senior party source said it was "not a given" that Mr Mara would be the director of elections, although he did not rule it out. Mr Mara, now a political lobbyist, was the party's director of elections in the last general election.
He is a member of the Fianna Fail committee, chaired by Mr Ray MacSharry, in charge of selecting candidates and deciding on electoral strategy. The committee's work is largely complete, except for a few constituencies, including the Taoiseach's Dublin Central constituency, which have not yet held their selection conventions.
According to the party source, Mr Mara was a "very important" member of the committee and it was believed he would continue to work on it.
Mr Mara said yesterday that a newspaper report ruling him out of the running for the job was not incorrect but that he was now open to changing his mind.
At the Flood tribunal, Mr Mara admitted he was "negligent" and "deficient" in failing to disclose fully details of all bank accounts in his name as directed by the tribunal in December 2000. He apologised several times to the tribunal concerning the matter on Wednesday.
Asked why he had gone to the trouble of setting up two Isle of Man bank accounts when the money was later brought back to the State, Mr Mara said he may have had "bad thoughts" at the time but later changed his mind.
Mr Mara also said allegations that he and former minister Mr Ray Burke has operated a "price list" for the awarding of broadcasting licences was "madness".