The Taoiseach's efforts to free the three Irish republicans jailed in Colombia have been criticised by Fine Gael leader Mr Enda Kenny.
Mr Kenny asked last night whether a "secret deal" lay behind the intervention of the Taoiseach, who has asked the Colombian president, Mr Alvaro Uribe, if the three could be released pending the outcome of an appeal in their case.
Niall Connolly, James Monaghan and Martin McCauley were convicted of travelling on false passports, but found not guilty of training terrorists. They received sentences of between two and four years.
Speaking at a meeting in Galway last night, Mr Kenny asked the Taoiseach to make a full statement on the background to his intervention.
"The Taoiseach must explain if his ill-advised intervention on behalf of the so-called "Colombia Three" is part of another secret deal with Sinn Féin and the IRA.," he said.
"We already know that he had agreed to break his word and release the killers of Det Garda Jerry McCabe under pressure from the republican movement. I want to know if his proposals to President Uribe constitute another secret deal as we know that Sinn Féin negotiators had been seeking this concession."