The Progressive Democrats have made a dramatic shift in their attitude to revelations from the Flood tribunal which could threaten the life of the Government.
Sources confirmed to The Irish Times yesterday that if the public affairs lobbyist, Mr Frank Dunlop, makes a firm case under cross-examination at the tribunal that any Fianna Fail TD was paid for a vote on a rezoning motion, the PDs will seek the TD's immediate resignation from the Dail.
If such a resignation is not forthcoming, the party will pull out of Government.
There is strong speculation in Leinster House that a named senior Fianna Fail TD was receiving payments from Mr Dunlop for a long period. They were discussed by the PD parliamentary party at its meeting on Wednesday, and mark a significant departure from the attitude to tribunal allegations taken by the two Coalition parties to date.
Since the formation of the Government in 1997, both parties have adopted the consistent line that "due process" must be observed to allow tribunals to make their findings.
Following Mr Dunlop's disclosures that he had paid up to 30 Dublin councillors, however, the junior Coalition partner has revised this stance.
In a warning to the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, they stated that the PDs believed that any elected representative who was found to have acted in "an improper manner should be required to resign their seat, whatever the implications for the stability and continuance of the Government."
Sources said yesterday that it was "unreal" in the present corruption climate to have to wait for the end of the Flood tribunal before dealing with the political reality.
PD sources drew a sharp distinction between their new position and the removal of the party whip from Mr Denis Foley, the Kerry North TD, when it was established that he had an Ansbacher account. Mr Foley still votes with the minority coalition.
"Mr Foley's action was not relevant to the electoral process. Any TD, any elected representative, believed to be suborning the democratic process is a different matter. The Government will not be sustained with the support of a corrupt TD," they added.
Meanwhile, attempts by the Taoiseach to reach all-party consensus on changing the system of political funding received a setback last night. The Labour Party announced: "We will proceed with our Bill to ban corporate donations next week. The only way there would be consensus is if Fianna Fail and Fine Gael vote for our Bill."
The Progressive Democrats said yesterday that they were looking forward to the meeting at which the issue of funding of the political process would be discussed.
"Hopefully agreement can be reached on moving forward. All issues should be on the table," the party said.
The Government Chief Whip, Mr Seamus Brennan, said last night that if it was the case that a sitting Fianna Fail TD had received on-going payments from Mr Dunlop "we will get to the bottom of this". Fianna Fail was three-quarters of the way through its inquiry. The inquiry so far was not yielding up a lot.
Mr Brennen said, on RTE, that if one person said that money was a bribe, they would have to hear from the other person. There certainly was prima facie evidence of bribery and corruption. Any Fianna Fail member would be "out on their ear if hard evidence emerges" he added.