THE GREEN Party last night moved to play down comments made by party chairman Senator Dan Boyle that raised the issue of Bertie Ahern naming the date when he will step down as Taoiseach.
Mr Boyle, in a radio interview, seemed to set himself at odds with party leader John Gormley who had earlier expressed full confidence in the stability of Government and had refused to comment on Mr Ahern's position.
The Cork senator also seemed to break from the party's official line on the Mahon tribunal, where its representatives have consistently refused to express any opinion on the substance of Mr Ahern's evidence.
Speaking on Newstalk 106-108, he said unremitting media attention on the Taoiseach's evidence to the tribunal, as well as Mr Ahern's own contributions and reactions, were "not something that is lending towards the proper practice of government."
Asked if the Taoiseach should now name a date for his departure, Mr Boyle said he thought the Taoiseach was now in a similar situation to Tony Blair after the British elections in 2005.
"He won't be putting himself forward as Taoiseach at the next general election. We're now in a period of time that we have to find out, discover from the Taoiseach himself, when he feels his time for leaving within this period of Government is.
"We're probably coming close to a time when his own party colleagues will look for finality on that. . . We don't have a direct role in deciding who the leader of Fianna Fáil is," he said.
Last night, the party's Government spokesman said that Mr Boyle's comments did not reflect the official position of the Greens.
"Senator Boyle was speaking in a personal capacity. He was responding to a series of leading questions and his responses were carefully couched with caveats, especially the stipulation that it's up to Fianna Fáil to decide how and when they choose their leader," he said.
"Since the Taoiseach made it clear that he was leaving office during this term, speculation about the timing of this is commonplace and is common across all parties in Leinster House," added the spokesman.
But the Opposition seized on the comments and claimed the Coalition parties may no longer be holding the line on Mr Ahern's dealings with the planning inquiry.
It came as the war of words between Fianna Fáil Ministers and Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny continued, ahead of what are expected to be bad-tempered exchanges in the Dáil later today arising from the Taoiseach's difficult two days of evidence last week.
Tánaiste Brian Cowen and Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey both reacted sharply to comments made by Mr Kenny yesterday morning, where he continued to portray the Government as "paralysed".
"He's sounding more and more like Napoleon in Elba, drawing up plans about wars he lost," mocked Mr Cowen.
However, when asked if he was aware of the £30,000 payment by Mr Ahern's constituency organisaton to Celia Larkin before it was disclosed last Friday, Mr Cowen curtly replied: "I don't discuss the issue with the Taoiseach. The Taoiseach is handling that in his own way in compliance with the terms of reference."