Charlie Bird brought the news to a bemused public. John Ellis, the man who was saved from bankruptcy in 1989 and again in 1990 when Charles Haughey dipped into the Fianna Fail party leader's fund and came up with two large bundles of cash amounting to £26,000, had another secret benefactor.

The fairy godfather on this occasion was the National Irish Bank. It wrote off debts of almost £250,000 for the cash-starved deputy rather than threaten the stability of the Fianna Fail/Progressive Democrats government by forcing him to resign from the Dail through bankruptcy.

NIB did this at the same time as the accounts of some ordinary clients were being milked through excessive charges.

It was gob-smacking stuff. Why, the amount was almost in the same ballpark as the £350,00 written off in a fit of altruism by AIB for Mr Haughey when he became Fianna Fail leader and Taoiseach in 1979.

By contrast, sums written off against Garret FitzGerald by AIB when the flotation of Guinness Aviation went belly-up and against Bernard Durkan by the State bank, ACC, were almost petty cash.

But the message to the public was the same: elected representatives attract special treatment.

Just how special Mr Ellis's treatment was emerged when an NIB spokesman said people at the bank were as astonished as anyone else. The decision must have been made by the then chief executive, Jim Lacey, he mused. And while there was no evidence political pressure had been brought to bear to write off the debt, the spokesman said, he was not saying it did not happen.

Preventing a collapse of the government was the biggest thing Mr Ellis had going for him. He waved this trump card at both Mr Haughey and Albert Reynolds. Both responded: Mr Haughey by delving into the leader's allowance and Mr Reynolds - according to Mr Ellis - through representations to NIB.

Last night, as Mr Reynolds kept his counsel in the US, the Opposition parties were muttering about conflicts of interest. John Bruton wondered about the propriety of a minister for finance making representations to a foreign-owned bank about a client's account. Especially when that bank was embarking on a major expansion programme under its new owners, National Australia Bank, and hoped at the same time to acquire eventually the Trustee Savings Bank from the State.

Even in business, one good turn frequently prompts another. And the understanding role played by NIB in writing off a debt and safeguarding the position of the then government might be expected to generate brownie points.

It was a perfectly simple inside track as far as Mr Ellis was concerned. He issued a statement yesterday detailing how NIB issued bankruptcy proceedings against him in October 1989, for a sum of £263,540.71 after his meat plant and exporting business, Stanlow Trading, went wallop.

Mr Ellis said he was "very conscious of the fact that if I was made bankrupt I would automatically lose my seat in Dail Eireann. I informed Albert Reynolds TD of the fact who, for me, was both a colleague and a friend."

From there, he went to visit the bank with his legal adviser; met the chief executive, Mr Lacey, and explained the full extent of his financial problems. In a parallel development, Mr Ellis understood that "Albert Reynolds was informing the bank of my dire circumstances and, in effect, pleaded for leniency for me".

Then, mirabile dictu, the glowering black clouds of bankruptcy blew away. As a result of representations made, Mr Ellis said, "the bank was satisfied that I had no financial means to discharge the amount due and owing to them and that no useful purpose could be served by having me made a bankrupt and in those circumstances the bank agreed to compromise the matter for a lump sum payment of £20,000".

It was a most generous settlement. And it prompts the question as to whether the bank was equally understanding with Mr Ellis's brother and business partner, Caillan, who was being pursued at the same time for a sum amounting to £183,000.

Mr John Ellis appears to have been blessed in his friends. And even if some people in Fianna Fail were taking quiet pleasure at the sudden discomfiture of Mr Reynolds, the general mood within the party was sombre.

The friendship between Mr Ellis and Mr Reynolds came as no surprise to them. But it was given a public airing in 1994 when the honorary Irish consul to Pakistan, Dr Nadeem Beg, took a High Court case for wrongful dismissal against the then Taoiseach, Mr Reynolds.

Dr Beg said he had been sacked by Mr Reynolds when he briefly held the position of minister for foreign affairs on the fall of the Fianna Fail/Labour Party government in 1994. This had been done, he claimed, "out of ill-will, spite and vindictiveness" and arose from events surrounding Mr Khursil Sohail, who claimed to be chairman of the Indus Bank in Karachi, and Mr John Ellis, a non-executive director of that bank. He had advised against any involvement by the State in projects put forward by Mr Sohail and had drawn attention to reports of criminal charges against him.

Dr Beg stated: "I believe that in the course of my position as honorary consul I had uncovered financial matters concerning Mr Sohail and Mr John Ellis TD in which the Taoiseach had become embroiled. I believe that it is significant that Mr Ellis is a member of the same political party as the Taoiseach."

Last night, Michael Noonan was calling for a statement by both men on the representations made to NIB.

Ruairi Quinn rattled the Government's cage by declaring the NIB write-off amounted to a political donation and had compromised the then government. And he demanded that the current Government Minister, who had also made representations on behalf of Mr Ellis, should come out with his hands up.

At the end of his statement, Mr Ellis commented: "This entire episode has caused and continues to cause me annoyance and embarrassment." Given the reaction of the Opposition parties, that situation is unlikely to change.