The Taoiseach said he respected the right of the EU Commissioner, Mr Padraig Flynn, to have the allegation that he received £50,000 meant for Fianna Fail dealt with by the Flood tribunal.

Mr Ahern said he was glad he had received a reply from Mr Flynn to his letter conveying the legitimate concerns expressed by the House a fortnight ago.

"I think his reply goes some way towards explaining his position. Indeed, it would have been helpful, I think, to us all to have had a statement to this effect at an earlier stage, particularly on the day the Tanaiste and myself asked him to make a statement."

Mr Ahern read text of the letters he exchanged with Mr Flynn following the passing of a Dail motion calling on the Commissioner to respond to the allegation made against him.

Pledging his full co-operation with the tribunal, Mr Flynn told the Taoiseach the tribunal representatives had requested that neither he nor his legal advisers would discuss the matter else where.

Asked by the Labour deputy leader, Mr Brendan Howlin, if he was satisfied with the statement, the Taoiseach said: "As far as being glad or otherwise, I think we have to respect the Commissioner's right to have the matter dealt with fully by the Flood tribunal. I respect that right."

Mr Howlin asked: "Is the Taoiseach satisfied with the response he has received, yes or no?"

Mr Ahern replied: "This issue is that I am respecting the right of the Commissioner, based on what he has said in the letter to me. The tribunal asked him to keep matters confidential.

"He is stating that the tribunal was set up by us in this House, that he has already, obviously, been dealing with the tribunal, that the facts, it would seem from this letter, are already with the tribunal, that he is indicating his willingness to continue, including swearing on oath, anything he is requested to do on his behalf in the tribunal. And I accept that."

The Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, asked if the Taoiseach believed it was satisfactory that somebody should remain in public office, with such questions hanging over them, without issuing an explanation.

Mr Ahern said Mr Flynn had already explained his situation to the tribunal. "What I do not feel very happy about . . . I do think a letter of this nature could have been done some weeks ago. So if anyone asks me am I totally happy, I think this letter would have helped greatly if it had been sent three weeks ago."

Mr Bruton asked how the Taoiseach reconciled Mr Flynn's unwillingness to answer questions put to him by the House with his willingness, notwithstanding his undertaking to the tribunal, to discuss exactly those matters with The Late Late Show.

Mr Ahern said: "I can say that it seems to me that Commissioner Flynn did not have his legal representatives with him when he appeared on The Late Late Show."

Pressed further by Mr Bruton and Mr Howlin, the Taoiseach said: "A fair interpretation of the letter seems to be that this is as far as the Commissioner can go."

Mr Ahern said Fianna Fail would wait for the tribunals' conclusions as to whether any contributions intended for the party's political benefit were not used for that purpose, before it decided on any remedial action.

Mr Trevor Sargent (Green Party, Dublin North) asked: "Could any other voluntary organisation lose £50,000 before the Fraud Squad and Revenue Commissioners moved in, or is this specific to Fianna Fail? Does the Taoiseach think that other organisations would get away with this?"

Mr Ahern replied: ". . . what would excite an organisation about money that might have been there or had gone missing. The answer to that is far greater than any of the things the deputy mentioned. The people involved would set up a fully sworn judicial tribunal, which is what we did. Nothing could have been greater than that, in our view."