Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny led a chorus of Opposition disapproval of Fianna Fáil after today's publication of the Moriarty tribunal, saying it revealed a "culture of corruption" within the party.
Mr Kenny said Mr Justice Michael Moriarty's findings showed Mr Haughey's "greed knew no bounds" and should not come as a surprise, he said. He claimed there was a culture of self-enrichment within Fianna Fáil.
"Fianna Fáil throughout the 1980s and 1990s consistently failed to distinguish between the people's money and the party's money, and the public interest from the party interest," Mr Kenny said.
Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte said the findings were beyond an indictment of Mr Haughey.
They served as testimony to the "political culture in Fianna Fail during the period when he dominated that party".
"This is a sorry tale of misuse of taxpayers money, the placing of public servants under pressure to do the will of the then Taoiseach, and a group of craven colleagues who were unwilling to challenge his writ," Mr Rabbitte said.
He the scale of the money received by Mr Haughey during the 17 years examined by the tribunal was Mr Justice Moriarty's finding that in 1988 the then taoiseach had received the equivalent of 171 times his salary.
The finding that Mr Haughey used money raised to pay for a liver operation for Mr Lenihan - a lifelong friend and political ally - was "perhaps the most shocking", Mr Rabbitte added.
Despite the tribunal today finding that Mr Ahern "unknowingly" facilitated the misuse of State funds by then-taoiseach Charles Haughey, Green Party leader Trevor Sargent said the Fianna Fáil leader "has serious questions to answer".
Mr Justice Moriarty found Mr Ahern had signed blank cheques in 1989 for Mr Haughey. Mr Ahern admitted this in public evidence.
The cheques were drawn on a Fianna Fáil account used for receiving Exchequer funding of party leaders' costs. These funds should have been used for political activities, but Mr Haughey used some of the money to "meet his personal expenditures", the tribunal found.
The tribunal was satisfied that Mr Ahern, who was chief whip at the time, was unaware that the money was being misused.
But Mr Sargent said that, in signing the blank cheques, Mr Ahern had allowed "a culture of corrupt private wealth bankrolling politics to continue." He said a ban on corporate donations and full disclosure of personal donations should be implemented.
"An Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, has serious questions to answer, not just about how he can claim ignorance of Mr Haughey's behaviour while signing blank, taxpayer-funded cheques for his boss, but also why he allows the same culture to continue today," Mr Sargent said.