The Government insists that information provided by ICC Bank senior executives for the Taoiseach's Dail address on the controversial £10,500 loan to Fianna Fail is accurate.
However, following reports in the Sunday Independent yesterday that a confidential ICC memo said the bank was "uneasy" about a request from a passports-for-sale broker to transfer £10,000 to Fianna Fail and as the newspaper also cast doubt on the precise nature of the account, a Government spokesman last night confirmed it was prepared to check the matter with the bank again today.
A spokesman for the Progressive Democrats said the party was aware the matter was being double-checked and would not comment until the process was complete later today.
Mr Ahern based his lengthy statement to the Dail on Wednesday on information provided by the bank. Should the recheck turn up different information, it is understood the Taoiseach would have to correct the record of the House.
"He has no reason to doubt the information given to us by ICC," a Government spokesman said.
He added that Mr Ahern supported the view of the former minister for justice, Mrs Maire Geoghegan-Quinn, when she said on RTE's Saturday View that, had she known an applicant for an Irish passport had been involved in giving a loan to Fianna Fail, she would not have recommended the application at Cabinet.
Sources yesterday said the Government was not aware that the interest-free loan was being given to Fianna Fail in July 1993. However, the granting of the loan was inappropriate and unfortunate "in the circumstances", one source said.
Well-placed sources last night said the account from which £10,500 was withdrawn and paid to Fianna Fail was a joint account between the US passport investor, Mr Jerry Lindzon and Irish businessman, Mr Brian O'Carroll, even though the money in the account belonged to Mr Lindzon.
Mr O'Carroll acted as a broker for a number of passport investors, but has said he did not act in this capacity for Mr Lindzon. Mr O'Carroll was not available for comment yesterday.
Details of a bank memo, published in the Sunday Independent yesterday, said ICC Bank was "uneasy" about the request from Mr O'Carroll to transfer funds to a Fianna Fail fund-raising account in 1993. Its concerns appeared to relate to obtaining the correct authorisation to move the funds.
Mr O'Carroll made the request to transfer the funds supported, according to the memo, by a letter from Mr Lindzon authorising him to pay the money to whomever he wished. The bank sought clarification as to the payee from Mr O'Carroll and he told them it was for the Fianna Fail national collection.
Mr Joe Brady, a member of Fianna Fail's national finance committee, has said he first approached Mr O'Carroll for an interest-free loan. Mr O'Carroll was "non-committal" at the start but later said he was aware of somebody who was willing to provide money. A total of £10,000, plus accrued interest, was later transferred from the ICC account to the Fianna Fail fund-raising account.