Fine Gael will oppose payment to former High Court judge Mr Cyril Kelly of a proposed £30,000 pension unless he answers outstanding questions in the Sheedy affair, the party leader told the Dail.

During heated exchanges, Mr John Bruton accused the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, of a dereliction of duty in not obtaining a commitment from Mr Kelly to assist in determining the exact detail of what had happened before his pension was agreed to.

When Mr Bruton raised the matter on the Order of Business, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said that a resolution of the Dail, or legislation, would be required to authorise the payment to Mr Kelly. Mr Bruton asked why the Minister for Justice had not told the House of this earlier.

Later in the debate Mr Ahern said that what the Minister had put before the House on Tuesday was his proposal about the severance packages, which he had commended to the House.

Mr Bruton said: "Answer the question I have asked you: did the Minister get an undertaking from Mr Justice Kelly that he would give answers to the questions which are not answered, as a condition to the House being asked to pass this legislation? Because if we don't get those assurances, I can assure you that the Fine Gael party will oppose this legislation . . . "

The Labour leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, asked if the conditions of the payment to be made would be revealed to the House if a resolution or legislation were brought before the House.

Mr Ahern said: "Whenever it comes before the House, the Minister will make a statement on it. But I have to say that the way it is being presented, that it was a deal, or there were negotiations around a deal, is an entirely wrong way . . . It was not a question of dealing . . . Two of the individuals concerned never asked about anything. As is known, Mr Justice Kelly did. "I think it was made known the other day that a lower figure was being talked about, and the Minister then put his proposal here to the House. And that will have to be ratified in due course before it can be paid."

Mr Bruton said: "Can the Taoiseach confirm that to buy the gift of a pension which the Minister made to Mr Justice Kelly, a barrister or any other individual of his age would have to pay one-and-a-half million pounds to buy a £30,000-a-year index-linked pension?"

He added that if there was no assurance that the individual would co-operate in answering unanswered questions, "then the Minister who gave him that undertaking was not doing his job, and is not fit for his job."

Mr Quinn asked if there was no such undertaking made by Mr Justice Kelly relating to the answering of questions, would the Taoiseach give an undertaking to introduce legislation to amend the Compellability of Witnesses Bill to enable the House to require a former judge to come before an appropriate Dail committee to answer questions which might arise.

Mr Ahern said that the Dail Committee on Justice would look at the matter in the first instance. He hoped that whatever the committee required, "people would co-operate with them".