The Taoiseach's call to Mr Hugh O'Flaherty to explain his position in the Philip Sheedy affair has raised serious tensions between Fianna Fail and the Progressive Democrats for the first time since the controversial nomination.
The Tanaiste, Ms Harney, in a terse statement last night said through a spokesman: "The Tanaiste has spoken tonight to the Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance on the telephone".
It emerged later, however, that Ms Harney made it clear to Mr Ahern she was angry he had reopened the issue for which she had suffered much damage, including the loss of Sen Helen Keogh and her party's slump in the opinion polls. She was furious that the Taoiseach had moved to distance himself, as she perceived it, from the decision to nominate Mr O'Flaherty to the £147,000-a-year post as vice-president of the European Investment Bank.
The Taoiseach's spokesman said last night that Mr O'Flaherty's nomination still stood.
Meanwhile, the former Supreme Court judge said last night he was reflecting on the Taoiseach's suggestion that he should explain his role in the events leading up to the de-listing of the Sheedy case last year.
The latest instalment in the row broke out when Mr Ahern, on the eve of the Tipperary South by-election, suggested it would be helpful if Mr O'Flaherty gave his account of events in the Sheedy affair. Mr Ahern emphasised, however, that if he didn't do so he would still get the job.
A spokeswoman for the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, who made the nomination, said he had already outlined his position on Mr O'Flaherty and he had nothing further to add.
Mr O'Flaherty told The Irish Times he would be "reflecting overnight" on the Taoiseach's request and would explain in due course. He said the "heap of abuse" he had taken over the issue would not force him to withdraw from the post.
The reopening of the controversy has angered Mr Ahern's Cabinet colleagues in advance of tomorrow's by-election. "The can of worms has been reopened," was how one Minister put it.
The Taoiseach will face new questions on the matter in the Dail this morning. The Labour Party is to raise the matter on the order of business.
In an interview with Eamon Dunphy on Today FM radio, Mr Ahern suggested four times an explanation by Mr O'Flaherty of the events surrounding the Sheedy affair would be helpful.
"Some day perhaps Hugh O'Flaherty in his own time might tell everybody the story," he said.
Pushed further, Mr Ahern said the Sheedy affair was comprehensively investigated by the senior law officer of the State. "It is always open for Mr Justice Hugh O'Flaherty to give his account of it. I think this is the missing bit and I hope in time he will do that because I think that people will see he is, to the very best of my knowledge, and everyone else that has any knowledge of him, a good person."
On another occasion in the interview Mr Ahern said the report of the Chief Justice was there.
"What isn't there is Hugh O'Flaherty's account which he was prepared to give . . . what he would have said to the All-Party Committee. And I hope that some day he gives that account. I would welcome him doing that."
The Fine Gael justice spokesman, Mr Jim Higgins, last night called on the Taoiseach to set up an "appropriate forum" to allow Mr O'Flaherty to publicly outline in full his role in the Sheedy affair. The Labour Party leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, said the remarks by the Taoiseach in his interview were "arrogant and hypocritical".
The Limerick law lecturer, Mr Denis Riordon, said last night he was going to delay for two weeks his appeal to the Supreme Court contesting Mr O'Flaherty's nomination.