THE GOVERNMENT has confirmed that Taoiseach Bertie Ahern will respond to the controversy surrounding the evidence of his former secretary, Gráinne Carruth, during Leaders' Questions in the Dáil next Wednesday.
In a statement issued last night, Government chief whip Tom Kitt said: "The Taoiseach feels strongly that the matter is best dealt with at the tribunal when he returns there in a number of weeks.
"If the Opposition raises this issue on Wednesday the Taoiseach will respond as he always does to matters raised at Leaders' Questions," he said.
Fine Gael and Labour both said last night that Enda Kenny and Eamon Gilmore are likely to use their time during Leaders' Questions to raise the latest disclosures from the Mahon tribunal concerning lodgements of stg£15,500 to Mr Ahern's building society account in 1994.
The confirmation came as sources close to a senior Fianna Fáil Minister in Cabinet said that when the Cabinet returns after the Easter break, senior figures will take the opportunity "to have conversations" about Mr Ahern's future.
The sources said that the "worry factor" about Mr Ahern's tenure had risen sharply following the evidence of Tim Collins and Ms Carruth, in addition to the disclosure that a £30,000 loan had been made to Mr Ahern's then partner Celia Larkin to help her purchase a house.
This had been exacerbated, said the sources, by a number of councillors expressing concern to the Minister that it will impact negatively on Fianna Fáil at next year's local elections. The sources added that this Minister was now of the opinion that the "writing was on the wall" as to Mr Ahern's future.
Elsewhere, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern, made a strong defence of the Taoiseach and also criticised the Mahon tribunal for dragging out the hearing of his evidence.
"It would be far better dealt with one way or the other," he said on the fringe of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Slovenia yesterday. "Going in dribs and drabs to the tribunal is not very satisfactory."
Despite several tribunal appearances, he said, the Taoiseach has yet to be asked a question about the "core issue" facing him - the lodgement of £50,000 to a constituency account.
"I think the Taoiseach would like to be asked the question. There is a sense of frustration." Asked about a possible response by the Taoiseach in the Dáil, Mr Ahern said: "That will be the usual maelstrom, the Taoiseach will be well able to deal with that."
Green Party leader John Gormley also said yesterday that he had not yet spoken to the Taoiseach about the latest disclosures. In comments carried on Limerick Live 95FM, the Minister for the Environment said there were misgivings about Ms Carruth's evidence, but Mr Ahern, as an experienced politician, was fully aware of the need for a response.
Meanwhile, Mr Gormley's Government spokesman responded to the Taoiseach's brother Noel Ahern, who yesterday said that the Minister responsible for the tribunal should not be calling for clarification from the Taoiseach outside the tribunal.
The spokesman said: "Mr Gormley does not wish to pick a fight with a Government colleague. But Noel Ahern could not have been listening too closely. Mr Gormley was very clear throughout. He had total confidence in the tribunal."
PD leader Mary Harney said she welcomed the news that the Taoiseach would make a Dáil response as "there was a need to dispel public disquiet". She said she did not want to be prescriptive as to what he would say.
Fine Gael's enterprise spokesman Leo Varadkar said that Mr Ahern had made an "arrogant slap-down" of the requests by Ms Harney and Mr Gormley for a clarifying statement.
And the Green TD Paul Gogarty said on RTÉ that the Green Party would pull out of Government for reasons other than policy ones only if a "killer bullet" emerged from the tribunal in relation to Mr Ahern's finances.