The survival of the Fianna Fáil/Progressive Democrats coalition remains in doubt following Tánaiste Michael McDowell's refusal to say if he accepts Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's explanations about his finances.
In the Dáil yesterday, Mr Ahern acknowledged he had bought his house in 1997 from Michael Wall, a businessman who had provided transport for those attending the Manchester dinner in 1994 where he received £8,000.
Mr Ahern said he had not identified Mr Wall beforehand because the Mayo-born businessman "did not eat the dinner that day" and had not contributed to the collection.
Fianna Fáil was still unsure last night about the PDs' intentions, while every senior PD figure refused to take calls, or else replied "no comment" in the face of questions. Clearly in disarray, the PDs refused to say if their silence marked unhappiness with Mr Ahern's answers, or was an attempt to buy time.
Mr McDowell told Mr Ahern late on Wednesday that he would not take the Order of Business in the Dáil yesterday because of his concerns that new information was emerging all the time.
Tensions between the PDs and FF rose after Mr Ahern said he had told former tánaiste and Minister for Health Mary Harney "just before the summer" that he had accepted loans from friends.
Clearly wishing to calm the crisis, Ms Harney played down Mr Ahern's remarks, saying that while he had told her about his contacts with the Mahon tribunal, he had not told her about getting loans from friends. "I don't think he meant anything . . . as I understand it what he said was that he thought he had told me that but he hadn't," she told journalists.
Meanwhile, The Irish Times has established that the solicitor who organised the "dig-out" for Mr Ahern in 1993 also acted for the Manchester man who sold Mr Ahern his Drumcondra home.
The late Gerard Brennan acted for Mr Wall when he bought the house in March 1995. He also acted as solicitor for a number of years for two Irish companies owned by Mr Wall and which used Mr Brennan's address as their registered office in the 1990s.
Mr Brennan was a close friend of Mr Ahern's and acted as personal solicitor for him. Along with the former Fianna Fáil fundraiser Des Richardson, he was involved in the raising of £22,500 for Mr Ahern, from eight donors, in and around Christmas 1993. Mr Brennan died in 1997.
Meanwhile, the planning tribunal has said it will ask the High Court to order two Irish Times journalists to disclose the source of leaked information relating to payments to Mr Ahern. Tribunal chairman Judge Alan Mahon said yesterday that if the court granted such an order, Irish Times Editor Geraldine Kennedy and public affairs correspondent Colm Keena would be called before the tribunal again and asked about the source of their information.
Last week, both journalists, citing the need to protect their sources, told the tribunal they had destroyed the documents on which the article was based, in spite of a tribunal order to produce it.
