The Government, according to one senior Fianna Fail figure, will struggle and gasp and collapse over the finishing line next Friday. One more week of Dail unpredictability and it will be safe from tight Dail votes for over three months.

The hope is that politics will quieten down and there will be time for the bitterness which has infused Fianna Fail-Progressive Democrats relations to ease.

However, the prospects of the Government having much life left when the Dail resumes on October 3rd are far from certain. Ongoing fear of sleaze causes some of the uncertainty, but the major corrosion of relations between Fianna Fail and the Progressive Democrats in recent weeks appears even more dangerous.

Ministers say they believe the Flood and Moriarty tribunals have produced their worst, but they still fear that some unexpected revelation could plunge the administration into crisis.

Last Thursday's report on TV3 concerning what and when Mr Ahern knew about a missing £75,000 donation to Fianna Fail from the property developer Mr Mark Kavanagh sent Government officials into a spin for much of the day. At the end of it they believed they had extricated Mr Ahern from any associated controversy. But fear of the unexpected remains.

This week relations between Fianna Fail and the PDs hit their lowest point in this Government's life. On Tuesday Mary Harney reacted furiously to comments by the Taoiseach which she interpreted as an attempt to distance himself from the controversial appointment of Mr Hugh O'Flaherty to the European Investment Bank.

On Thursday Liz O'Donnell, the Minister of State at Foreign Affairs, responded as sharply to comments by Fianna Fail backbencher Sean Ardagh which the PDs again saw as Fianna Fail backsliding on the appointment - a Fianna Fail idea which caused serious damage to the PDs.

The significance of the week's events is that there now appears to be an almost complete lack of trust between the parties.

There was nothing very surprising about Mr Ahern's attempt to have things both ways: sticking by the deeply unpopular nomination of Mr O'Flaherty while trying to sound as if he agreed with the public view that the nomination was wrong.

Indeed, it was merely an extension of his comments last week that the people were always right, and that he would not, therefore, argue with their view that the nomination was wrong. His suggestion this week that Mr O'Flaherty might perhaps explain his role in the Sheedy case was merely a further example of his desire to face both ways on the matter.

However, while this was typical of Mr Ahern the PD reaction this week showed that the party was no longer willing to accept "typical Bertie" behaviour. Mr Ahern was forced to go into the Dail on Wednesday and announce he still supported the nomination.

The Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, was forced by the Opposition into the Dail where he turned in one of the most criticised performances ever in defence of his decision.

Ms O'Donnell's sharp comments were an even starker sign that the party was prepared to see Fianna Fail perfidy everywhere. Mr Ardagh said on Morning Ireland on Thursday that he thought the nomination was wrong and that he regretted it.

However, he only made these comments under pressure and went on to state strongly that he stood by the nomination and did not believe it should be reversed.

Ms O'Donnell went out that afternoon to slap down Mr Ardagh's comments. If Fianna Fail was getting "windy" about the nomination it could just go right ahead and reverse it. It was their idea, their problem, and if they wanted to go ahead with it, went the message, they should shut up.

All Mr Ardagh did was state the widely held view among Fianna Fail backbenchers that the decision was wrong. He also loyally stuck to the Government line that the decision should not be reversed and that he stood by it. The fact that this provoked such a strong PD response is indicative of the level of suspicion which now exists.

The Taoiseach went out to look after his party's interests, despite PD sensitivities, following opinion polls showing the damage caused by the affair. The PDs responded by looking after their self-interest through trying to pin the blame entirely on Fianna Fail.

In such an atmosphere, coalition governments do not survive. Yesterday's dreadful by-election result for Fianna Fail and the damage inflicted on the PDs through the O'Flaherty affair may give them enough incentive to try to stay together for another while. As the Dail goes into recess next weekend, the coming months will determine if the breakdown of trust is terminal.