Opposition questions: Tánaiste Michael McDowell and members of the Government were not "concocting anything" over the weekend, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern insisted as Labour asked what promises Fianna Fáil had made to the Progressive Democrats to stay in Government.
"We were working on the energy Green Paper and the National Development Plan and the Book of Estimates," Mr Ahern told Labour leader Pat Rabbitte, who claimed that none of the fundamental concerns raised by Mr McDowell had been answered.
"How did this get the PDs off the hook? What has changed since the Tánaiste told us that there were fundamental issues of grave concern.
"How does 'with the benefit of hindsight I made an error' get them off the hook," Mr Rabbitte said.
"Here is nothing that could justify the PDs saying they had the answers the Tánaiste wanted about the Manchester event, the identity of the donors, the rest of it."
But Mr Ahern quipped: "It wasn't an issue for the PDs in 1993/1994. I was in coalition with the Labour Party at that time."
Emmet Stagg (Lab, Kildare North) said that the Government was intact. "The junior partners wouldn't leave if there was an atomic bomb under them," he added.
Pressed about the NCB cheque and why a corporate cheque was issued if the donation was from a group of friends, Mr Ahern said that the initial loan included money from Paraic O'Connor, who worked at NCB. "This money came to me in the form of a bank draft. It was not a cheque. It could not therefore have been a company cheque."
He said that Paraic O'Connor had given the money to him and he had repaid it.
Mr Ahern stressed that his savings were totally from his own salary - "my TD's salary and my Department of Finance salary".
Mr Rabbitte asked why Mr Ahern had abandoned the test set down in the House when the Taoiseach had said that if somebody sought to represent this as a loan you would have to have incontrovertible written evidence, including the arrangements for repayment entered into at the time. "Why does that not apply in the case of Drumcondra monies one and two?"
Mr Ahern said that it wasn't a political donation. "I could have easily said it was [ a political donation], but because I was honest and said it wasn't a political donation, so I kept it separate."
