Pressure on the Coalition Government may ease following a statement from the British-based property developer, Mr Tom Gilmartin, that he will deal with any allegations against the Taoiseach at the Flood tribunal, rather than air them in public.
As the Government and opposition parties braced themselves for further weekend disclosures, Mr Gilmartin said he was not aware of any pending revelations.
Reports that he had made information available to journalists, designed to bring down the Government, were totally inaccurate, the property developer said. He had been asked a question on a radio show if information in his possession would bring down the Government and he had replied: "We'll see."
However, he would now adopt the same approach as Mr Ahern and allow the tribunal to deal with the various matters.
Contacted at his home in Luton yesterday, Mr Gilmartin insisted the Taoiseach's speech to the Dail last Wednesday had been inaccurate on five counts. And he commented: "I think we will be able to prove that."
He described the Dail denial by Mr Liam Lawlor that he had ever arranged or attended a meeting for Mr Gilmartin at Leinster House in September 1989, which was attended by Mr Charles Haughey, the late Mr Brian Lenihan and Mr Ahern, as "totally inaccurate".
Mr Gilmartin said he was not in the business of getting into a public dispute.
"This all started when some people in Dublin heard that members of the Flood tribunal had come to see me and they tried to put a spin on it and to discredit me. They put out bullshit stories about me. But I released one piece of paper and that shut one person up . . . It made him almost catatonic . . . That's what started it all."