There were sharp exchanges between the Fianna Fail leader and the Minister of State responsible for local development.

Mr Bertie Ahern claimed that Mr Gay Mitchell was refusing to answer questions on urban and local development funding. Amid uproar, Fianna Fail accused the Minister of State of leaving the House like a "scalded cat".

But Mr Mitchell claimed that the FE accusations were unworthy and untrue. He said that past FF leaders had been known as "the Chief" and "the Boss", but now there was a new one, "the Gaffer", given that Mr Ahern had made the biggest gaffe he had seen in the House for a long time.

Mr Ahern claimed that he could not find out who had received development funding and insisted that the Minister was stalling. Mr Mitchell said that he had returned from European meetings to answer questions in the House, and it was not his fault that some questions had not been reached in the timespan.