A spokesman for the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Burke, could neither confirm nor deny yesterday whether Mr Burke had attempted to use the passports for investment scheme in 1991 to help a company in his constituency.
He was commenting on a newspaper report that Mr Burke had tried to use the controversial passports scheme to secure funding for a company, Prime Print, in Swords.
Meanwhile, the Government is considering appointing more than one judge to conduct the second tribunal into payments to politicians which is due to be established by the Dail this week. There is a view that the work could be carried out more quickly if there was more than one member of the tribunal.
As he prepares to make a statement and answer questions in the Dail about the recept of a £30,000 donation from a builder in 1989, Mr Burke had to issue a new statement at the weekend concerning allegations about the passports-for-sale scheme.
Mr Burke, through his spokesman, said that Prime Print was a company based in Swords which contacted him indicating that it had major financial difficulties which threatened the future of the company and the jobs of its employees, "nearly all of whom were my constituents".
"I did everything possible to save the jobs by attempting to secure investment for the company from a number of sources, including the IDA and also Deloitte Touche who I understood had funds available for investment in Irish businesses," the Minister said.
He added that his efforts were unsuccessful. No investment was made and the company eventually changed ownership.
