GOVERNMENT and Opposition leaders have clashed over the circumstances under which Mr Michael Lowry informed the Taoiseach that he had availed of the tax amnesty.
The Taoiseach has denied a suggestion by the Fianna Fail leader, Mr Ahern, that Mr Bruton knew of Mr Lowry's situation before he nominated him to be Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications on December 15th, 1994.
Mr Bruton said in a statement that Mr Lowry did not tell him he had availed of the tax amnesty until over a month later - on January 17th, 1995.
Fianna Fail sources derided this claim and a spokesman for Mr Ahern pointed out the reference in Mr Lowry's speech to the Dail on Thursday where he said he had given Mr Bruton the information about the amnesty "on taking up the office of Minister".
Fianna Fail said this meant the day Mr Lowry got his seal of office on December 15th. Mr Lowry was not available for comment on the issue of timing last night.
The Democratic Left leader and Minister for Social Welfare, Mr De Rossa, said it was imperative that Mr Lowry cleared up the ambiguities that were left by his statement to the Dail. Meanwhile the Progressive Democrats' TD Mr Des O'Malley, who is a member of the sub-committee of the Dail Committee of Procedure and Privileges, set up to investigate the issue of political payments by Mr Ben Dunne or Dunnes Stores, said it would be "completely unacceptable" for the sub-committee to hold its deliberations behind closed doors.
The sub-committee is expected to receive the results of the investigation by the former judge Mr John Gerard Buchanan into the Price Waterhouse report during, the week before the Dail resumes on January 22nd.
The Fianna Fail leader suggested yesterday that Mr Ben Dunne could be called to testify before a Dail committee, adding that he could not see how there could be an investigation without all the people involved.
One mechanism whereby non-members of parliament, such as Mr Dunne, could be called before Dail committees would be the Compellability of Witnesses Bill, if passed into law. An alternative mechanism would be to pass special legislation, which can be done very quickly, as in the case of the inquiry into the collapse of the Fianna Fail-Labour government.
Both the Taoiseach and the Tanaiste, Mr Spring, have indicated that, if the sub-committee leaves unanswered questions, then a further procedure such as a tribunal is not precluded.