The Taoiseach last night refused to condemn Mr Liam Lawlor for his failure to provide documents to the Flood Tribunal. Questioned by reporters at an IFA function in Dublin, Mr Ahern said he had no control over whether Mr Liam Lawlor, resigned his Dail seat.
He said the decision by the High Court to jail Mr Lawlor for contempt of court was unfortunate for the former Fianna Fail TD "on a personal basis".
Asked if Mr Lawlor should resign he said: "Everybody has said and the judge stated yesterday that he would not disenfranchise somebody, but the position is that, unfortunately for Liam on a personal basis, I continually indicated to the Dail all through the autumn session that it was necessary for all members of the Oireachtas to co-operate with the rules that are there."
He added that Mr Lawlor's decision on resignation was "not a matter that we have any control over, or anybody else has control over. I agree with what the Justice said yesterday".
Mr Ahern would not comment directly on whether or not Mr Lawlor deserved his jail sentence. He said: "It is a clear point I put to the Oireachtas that anybody who did not comply with the rules of the tribunal and what was set down in the setting up of the tribunal would be in breach of what the Oireachtas has stated and of course that was the finding of the judge yesterday."
However, the Minister for Social Community and Family Affairs, Mr Dermot Ahern, last night became the first Fianna Fail minister to criticise Mr Lawlor explicitly.
He told RTE television's Prime Time last night: "I accept fully what the judge said. It is a scandal . . . Fianna Fail fully accepts that".
Labour's Mr Eamon Gilmore accused the Taoiseach of "hiding behind" the judge's ruling. "The remarkable thing is that the Taoiseach has not yet unequivocally criticised Mr Lawlor for this," he told the programme.
Earlier Fine Gael and Labour claimed Fianna Fail had an ambiguous relationship with Mr Liam Lawlor.
Fine Gael's justice spokesman, Mr Alan Shatter, pointed out that Mr Lawlor's Dail office remained on a Fianna Fail floor in Leinster House.
"He has, on a weekly basis, continued to receive from the Fianna Fail Whip advance details of Dail business and has continuously supported the Government parties in the Dail lobbies." "If Fianna Fail wished to do so, it could arrange for Liam Lawlor's Dail office to be located elsewhere within the Oireachtas complex," he added.
The continued presence of Mr Lawlor on two Dail committees was "a public indication that he retains the full support and confidence of both the Taoiseach and the Tanaiste", he said.