Minister of State Mr Willie O'Dea has been accused of misleading the country over the Collins affair after the Standards in Public Office Commission (POC) contradicted a statement he made last night.
Speaking on RTÉ's Prime Timeprogramme Mr O'Dea said: "The information available to me suggests that the Public Office Commission themselves may well have had notice of this as far back as June."
But the POC issued a statement today contradicting Mr O'Dea's suggestion that the office may have had previous knowledge of Fianna Fáil TD, Mr Michael Collins' outstanding tax liability.
The matter only came to its attention through the publication of the latest Revenue Commissioner's tax defaulters list last Friday, the POC statement said.
Fine Gael leader, Mr Enda Kenny, said Mr O'Dea's statement showed the "Government will provide anything but the truth in their attempt to disguise their lax handling of this very disturbing affair.
"The public rebuke of the Taoiseach's representative, Minister O'Dea, by the Standards in Public Office Commission brings this controversy to a new level," Mr Kenny said.
Mr Collins supplied the POC Tax Clearance Certificate as required by law after he was elected to the Dáil last year. The certificate is intended to show the holder is fully tax compliant.
The POC said today it was in correspondence with the Office of the Collector-General in relation to the cert issued to Mr Collins.