Notice of the Dail motion asking if Ireland's European Commissioner, Mr Padraig Flynn, is free to respond to the allegation that he received £50,000 meant for Fianna Fail has been sent to the Flood tribunal, the House was told.

When the Labour leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, asked the Ceann Comhairle, Mr Seamus Pattison, when the motion would be conveyed to Mr Justice Flood, he replied: "I understand it has already been conveyed."

Mr Flynn's daughter, the Mayo Fianna Fail TD, Ms Beverly Cooper-Flynn, who dissented from the motion when it was passed by the Dail on Tuesday, yesterday challenged its validity under the House's standing orders.

On the Order of Business, she said: "I have a question for you, a Cheann Comhairle, concerning the motion passed last evening in private members' time. It is whether, under standing order 56.3, the matter was properly before the House. The standing order reads: `A matter shall not be raised in the House in such an overt manner so that it appears to be an attempt by the Dail to encroach on the functions of the courts or a judicial tribunal'."

The Ceann Comhairle said he would have the matter examined.