Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny accused Fianna Fáil of mounting "a sinister and orchestrated attack on the integrity of the Mahon tribunal".
Moving his party's motion of confidence in the tribunal, he said that, one by one, Fianna Fáil Ministers had queued to go on the airwaves to attack the way in which the tribunal was doing its work. He claimed that the series of interviews had been organised and orchestrated by Government press secretary Eoin Ó Neachtain, whose official function was to act as a spokesperson for the Taoiseach and the Government.
"This is not what one would expect from Government Ministers in a democratically elected parliament in this country. The purpose of the attacks was clear.
"They were a diversionary tactic. Don't look at the evidence, don't look at the crumbling credibility of the Taoiseach, don't look at the complete absence of any credible paper trail for his stories of large cash lodgements to personal accounts. Instead, look at the mud that we are throwing."
Mr Kenny said he would have liked to have heard the answer to a simple question from the Ministers: did they believe the Taoiseach's accounts that he was giving under oath in the tribunal? "These courageous broadcasters will never answer that particular question."
The Taoiseach himself, said Mr Kenny, had sought to undermine the tribunal, including accusations that it was trying to "stitch him up". He had complained on the public airways that he did not get the same fair hearing as other witnesses at the tribunal.
Time and again, he added, the tribunal has had to remind the Taoiseach why it was investigating his finances, why it had to examine him in public on these issues.
In December, Judge Mahon had said, relating to the Taoiseach: "When the tribunal looked at your personal finances it sees the lodgements that we're talking about. And that necessitates the inquiry and the level of inquiry that has been conducted since. That is the basis for the probing of your finances. "
Labour leader Eamon Gilmore renewed his call on the Taoiseach to resign. "The Taoiseach and his colleagues know that the only remaining question about his future is how long he can actually cling to power. His clinging on to office does him no credit.
"It discredits his Government and each of the parties in that Government. It delays and displaces the proper work of Government. It is time for him to go."
It was unacceptable, said Mr Gilmore, that the financial affairs of one man, even if he was the Taoiseach, paralysed politics and left the affairs of the Irish people neglected.
He added that he was sick "of the twists and turns, the half-explanations, the half-truths and the untruths, as well as "the fairytales, the crocodile tears, the red herrings and the manufactured outrage".
Nor, he said, could he ignore that PD and Green Ministers, "with manifest and breathtaking hypocrisy, have abandoned their duty to democracy, and have, like the three monkeys, decided to see, hear and speak no evil".
Mr Gilmore said the Dáil debate would not be taking place if the Taoiseach had co-operated fully and in a timely manner with the tribunal, if he had provided an explanation of his affairs that was even half-credible, and if he had met his tax obligations as and when they arose.
