Taoiseach's house:Taoiseach Bertie Ahern yesterday refused to give any further detail about the £30,000stg his then partner Celia Larkin received in December 1994 from a Manchester businessman, Michael Wall.
It came as the Taoiseach faced mounting pressure from Opposition politicians to clarify the issue. The £30,000 was given to Ms Larkin by Mr Wall, from whom Mr Ahern later rented the house at Beresford Avenue in Drumcondra, Dublin. Mr Ahern subsequently bought the house in 1997 from Mr Wall.
On Monday, Mr Ahern said the £30,000 placed in a bank account by Ms Larkin "was towards ... it was a stamp duty issue and it was towards the refurbishment of the house".
When asked while canvassing in Tallaght in Dublin to explain how there could have been a stamp duty issue in 1994 when he did not buy his house until 1997, Mr Ahern said: "Well, I will, but I will do it in the Mahon tribunal."
Asked if he thought it would be better for the electorate if he clarified matters, he said: "No, because if I say something on it today there will be another question on it tomorrow."
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said Mr Ahern should make a full statement about his personal financial affairs or else voters would be entitled to make up their own minds.
However, he insisted that he would not make Mr Ahern's private affairs a central issue of the campaign because he wanted to keep the focus on the Government's handling of public services.
"I don't know the details of Bertie Ahern's finances, and if there are questions they are for him to answer. In any event, the Irish people are going to give their verdict on May 24th.
"If he decides not to answer any question before the tribunal goes off and hears these things in due course, then people will have to make up their own minds about that.
"I said at the beginning that I wasn't going to get distracted from the main event, which is the general election. All the circumstances leading to this particular election are unusual."
Tánaiste and Progressive Democrats leader Michael McDowell refused to say how much information Mr Ahern had provided to him in relation to the payment at the height last October of the controversy over payments to Mr Ahern. "The briefing he has given me was in respect of confidential information. It is for the Mahon tribunal now to assess whether any or all of that is relevant to the allegation they are investigating.
"As far as I'm concerned I'm not turning myself into a mini-tribunal, nor this election into a public session of the tribunal when the tribunal itself has said that it would be unfair in its view to go down that road."
Describing the payments as "collateral issues of the tribunal", he indicated it was not of sufficient concern to him to prevent coalition with Fianna Fáil.
"If the Progressive Democrats come back into Dáil Éireann with enough seats to form a government with any other party we are ideologically compatible with, and that's Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil, we will negotiate with them."
Mr McDowell's handling of the controversy was criticised by Labour leader Pat Rabbitte, who said the PD leader had once described Charles Haughey as "morally brain-dead" . "I think he [ Mr McDowell] should go back and revisit that speech in the Dáil," Mr Rabbitte said.
Green Party leader Trevor Sargent also called on Mr Ahern to clarify issues relating to the payment. "We respect the decision of the Mahon tribunal to adjourn until after the election, but the public good would be better served if Mr Ahern made a public statement on his financial affairs.
"The peculiar nature of Bertie Ahern's financial arrangements demands an effort to clarify matters before the public cast their votes . . . The Taoiseach also described the £30,000 payment as 'a stamp duty thing'. Perhaps on Planet Bertie landlords give their tenants £30,000 to pay stamp duty, but in the real world this is difficult to believe."