The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, should make a personal statement to the Dáil on his "central involvement" in the aquatic centre controversy, Fine Gael frontbench spokesman Mr Charles Flanagan said yesterday.
The Labour Party leader Mr Ruairí Quinn said there were now very serious questions for the Taoiseach to answer about the level of control and supervision he exercised over a project that he initiated involving the expenditure of such a huge amount of public money.
Mr Quinn said that given the "sorry saga of errors of judgement and withheld information" contained in the report, the termination of Mr Paddy Teahon's position as chairman and chief executive of Campus and Stadium Ireland was probably inevitable.
But Mr Ahern, he said, could not evade his share of responsibility for these events.
Mr Flanagan said he regretted that Mr Teahon has been made the fall guy in "the greatest piece of political cowardice and buck passing in the history of the State.
"Statements of remorse over Mr Teahon's departure are an exercise in hypocrisy punctuated by massive sighs of relief. If the Taoiseach has any shred of political courage left he will come before the Dáil to make a personal statement on his central involvement in the whole saga and answer questions," said Mr Flanagan last night.
Mr Quinn said it was clear that the information withheld was not just in regard to the "dormant" status of Waterworld UK but also in regard to the experience and financial capacity of the company. This, he said, was clearly a very serious matter. "However, what we have received is only part of what is only a partial report in the first place.
"Legal advice of the Attorney General on the issue of consequent liability has been removed, we are told "for reasons of confidentiality".
This would clearly imply that the Attorney General believes that the State may be exposed to a financial liability arising from the manner in which this whole affair has been handled, he said
The Attorney General's report, he continued, did not deal at all with questions of the role of Government Ministers with regard to this project and the level of supervision exercised by the Taoiseach.
There was general support for the construction of a National Aquatic Centre, especially given its importance for the Special Olympics, said Mr Quinn, but it appeared the Taoiseach's obsession with the project led to corners being cut - and not just by Mr. Teahon.
"If there were errors of judgement made by Mr Teahon, there were also clearly serious errors made by the Taoiseach.
"Mr Teahon has paid a price but, as usual, the Taoiseach refuses to accept responsibility for anything," he said.