The Taoiseach came under Opposition pressure in the Dail last night to explain if he knew Mr Denis Foley (FF, Kerry North) had an Ansbacher account when they spoke last December.

A lengthy Fine Gael motion, supported by the other Opposition parties, wants Mr Ahern to explain who told him that Mr Foley was under investigation by the Moriarty tribunal, and when he first discussed the matter with the Tanaiste. The motion also demands to know if Mr Ahern or Ms Harney received, or were aware of, the contents of the additional list of Ansbacher account-holders which included Mr Foley's name. The House will vote on the motion tonight after a further 90 minutes' debate.

No senior Government Minister spoke in last night's debate. The recently-appointed Minister of State for Health and Children, Ms Mary Hanafin, accused the Opposition parties of putting the focus on "peripheral performances at a time of historic happenings." She added that the tribunals should be allowed to get on with their work without unnecessary interference from the Oireachtas.

The Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, said the subject matter of the motion was at the heart of public life in Ireland. "It is about the good order of this House and the reputation of politics. It is less to do with tribunals of inquiry and all to do with the way in which the Taoiseach and Tanaiste do their business on behalf of the citizens of this State."

The handling of the Foley affair by Mr Ahern, he added, seemed to confirm a pattern of behaviour by him that was more consistent with a desire to never know, or see, or even be told anything that he might have to actually take a hard decision about.

"Decision-making for the Taoiseach seems to be the process by which he is forced to choose between opening a pub extension or attending a book launch at the same time on the same night."

Mr Ahern's style of management was to leave plenty of smudges, but no fingerprints, Mr Bruton added. Leaders must ask hard questions, because it was part of the job, sometimes the most important part. "If he cannot bring himself to ask Denis Foley, Ray Burke or John Ellis the hard questions, how can we be sure he will ask the hard questions where Government business is concerned?"

The Labour leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, said the debate was about political accountability. "It is a debate about standards in office. It is a debate about the vast gulf that exists between the words and deeds of the Taoiseach."

The Foley affair, said Mr Quinn, raised serious questions for both Mr Ahern and the Tanaiste, Ms Harney. Newspaper reports, he said, had insisted it was the Tanaiste who first informed the Taoiseach that Mr Foley was under investigation by the Moriarty tribunal. "Shortly after receiving this critical information, the fateful meeting between Deputy Foley and the Taoiseach took place. We do not know the date. It seems the Taoiseach's appointments diary with Fianna Fail backbenchers has been elevated to the status of a State secret. "We do not know the details of that meeting. What we do know is that in January of this year, Deputy Foley was still a serving member of the Public Accounts Committee and no action was taken by either the Tanaiste or the Taoiseach until this sordid affair became public.

"The murky cloak of secrecy that has been cast over the Taoiseach's meeting with Deputy Foley cannot be maintained."

Mr Quinn said the Moriarty tribunal was charged with examining public office-holders who had gained from the Ansbacher accounts. "It has no role in examining murky investments made 26 or 28 years ago; it has no role in examining under-the-counter payments in a hotel in Tralee during the showband era.

"The only reason the tribunal would be inquiring into these matters was if they were linked to the Ansbacher deposits. The inescapable logic is that as soon as Deputy Foley confirmed to the Taoiseach that the Moriarty tribunal was investigating him, it was clear that Ansbacher deposits were centrally involved."

Mr John Gormley (Green Party, Dublin South East) said that "the gombeen culture still flourishes in this pathetic little country of ours". Ireland was a corrupt State, something that should be admitted in the House.