A spat between two members of the coalition parties broke out today over foreign aid - and the Taoiseach may be called upon to sort it out.
The new Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Mr Conor Lenihan of Fianna Fail was strongly criticised by one of his predecessors, PD Ms Liz O'Donnell, after he said Ireland would be unable to allocate 0.7 per cent of GDP to Overseas Development Aid by 2007.
Mr Lenihan told the Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs that after studying the financial implications, the target of 2007 would not be achieved but he hoped it could be reached within a few years of that date.
His comments drew a shocked response from the committee, and Ms O'Donnell in particular. She questioned whether the Taoiseach was aware of the situation and insisted her party had not been informed of the U-turn.
Ms O'Donnell said the commitment to allocate 0.7 per cent by 2007 formed part of the campaign she and Mr Ahern were involved in when Ireland successfully sought a seat at the United Nations Security Council in 2001.
"After the Taoiseach's commitment to the UN, the schedule was agreed at Cabinet and to my knowledge, there has been no Cabinet agreement to unravel it," she said, adding that Ireland's credibility was at stake.
Mr Lenihan said he was being realistic and supposed Ms O'Donnell's "will be realistic on this as well."
"It's not a policy change. I would hope to be within striking distance of the 0.7 GNP figure by 2007 or that it will be achievable within a year or two in budgetary terms," Mr Lenihan added.
The Taoiseach Mr Ahern has stated the commitment on several occasions including at a UN summit in New York in 2000 and in the Programme for Government published by the coalition in August 2004.
Labour party spokesman on Foreign Affairs, Mr Michael D Higgins described Minister Lenihan's statement before the committee as "disastrous and devastating" and said that the Taoiseach had "broken his promise to the poorest of the poor in Africa".
Senator David Norris said: "We're swimming in money - we're just about the richest nation in Europe. The shortfall we need for overseas aid was spent on the cock-eyed debacle of the electronic voting last year."
The Green Party's Mr Ciaran Cuffe described it as "a U-turn and a sickening blow to the developing world".
The chair of the committee Dr Michael Woods said he would invite the Taoiseach to discuss the issue at their next meeting.