Minister for Health Mary Harney has said she believed the Tánaiste has been "fair and reasonable" in the manner in which he has dealt with the disclosure to him of what he said was new information concerning the Taoiseach's finances.
Speaking in Dublin to mark the publication of the Progressive Democrats' policy on older people today, Ms Harney declined to say what view she had expressed at a meeting of senior PD members at the weekend.
It was reported that Ms Harney, along with the party's deputy leader Liz O'Donnell, came out in favour of quitting Government during the private three-hour meeting in Kildare on Saturday.
The meeting was held to discuss the contents of documents given to the Tánaiste that purport to give further details about the Taoiseach's acquisition of a house in Dublin in the 1990s.
The information caused disquiet to the party leadership, particularly as Mr McDowell had accepted assurances from Mr Ahern last October that he had been told the full story.
But Mr McDowell said on Friday that the picture the Taoiseach had given him last year "differs very substantially from the picture now being given by him to the Mahon tribunal".
Mr Ahern told him last autumn that the purchase of his house in Drumcondra from a Manchester businessman was "an arms-length transaction on commercial terms for full value".
Speaking today, Ms Harney said "every option" had been discussed at the meeting on Saturday, but she would not say what view she herself had expressed as she believed it would not be appropriate to do so.
"I wasn't privy to discussions that the Tánaiste had last autumn with the Taoiseach. He became aware of new information, he consulted his colleagues, including me. I expressed my view to him. To be quite frank, every option was discussed. That's a fact, that's the truth. But we made a decision. We reached a consensus and we are moving forward on that basis and I'm delighted that the clarification is forthcoming and I welcome that very much. I hope we can put this issue behind us now," Ms Harney said.
Ms Harney said she would not "pre-judge" what might happen.
"The clarification will be forthcoming and I welcome that. And I think, to be fair to the Taoiseach and everybody else, elections are busy times for politicians and things take time in the context of an election and clearly the Taoiseach is going to take time to clarify the matters that have arisen in the course of the election."
Ms Harney also said she had not seen the information that was being circulated about the Taoiseach's finances.
Asked if she had confidence in the Taoiseach, Ms Harney said: "If I didn't have confidence in the Taoiseach I wouldn't remain as a member of his Government."
Ms Harney said she believed it would have been "wrong and dishonest" of Mr McDowell to ignore information that had come into the public, or semi-public domain.
"He had two options - he could pretend he didn't hear this new information and ignore it, which I think would have been wrong and dishonest, or he should act on the basis of the information and I think he has acted appropriately. And above all else we have got to be fair."
The Minister said she believed there must now be "public" clarification, not merely private clarification, of the matters, "difficult and all" as the issues are.
"Quite honestly I think we are beyond that. I think it has to be public clarification, not simply private clarification," she said.
"I think during a general election we have to be fair and reasonable and I think what has happened has been fair and reasonable and I'm very happy to say that the Taoiseach is going to respond and we should await that response."
Asked whether the Taoiseach and Tánaiste had spoken today, Ms Harney said she was not aware of what had transpired between them. The two men were travelling together to Stormont for the restoration of the Assembly, she said, so she would be "surprised" if they had not spoken given the historic events of the day.