The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, told the Dail he became aware last March of the £30,000 donation by the Fitzwilton subsidiary, Rennicks, to the former Fianna Fail minister, Mr Ray Burke.

Speaking during a testy two-hour debate on the revelations by Magill magazine about the donation, Mr Ahern said he believed the best way to deal with the issue was through the Flood tribunal rather than through the Dail.

He stressed, however, that Fianna Fail had operated in a proper, transparent and aboveboard fashion, saying: "I deeply regret any departures in my party or any other party from the high standards that should have always been required."

Mr Ahern said it was the Fianna Fail party which had volunteered and disclosed documentation relating to Rennicks to the Flood tribunal, which had made an order for discovery against Fianna Fail in February this year.

The Taoiseach rejected suggestions that he "should have come into the House when these matters were discovered". He said: "There is surely no straighter or more direct or appropriate way to declare something than to swear it in an affidavit and to send the documents we had on this to the tribunal established by the Dail and delegated to investigate the matters.

"We deemed that the proper and most correct way to deal with this was to give what we had discovered to the tribunal and let them investigate it further and come to conclusions. As the House knows, Mr Justice Flood has been appointed to investigate these issues and should be allowed to do so without there being a parallel process ongoing in this House."

Mr Ahern told deputies he had not been aware last autumn, when Mr Burke made a statement to the Dail, that the £10,000 he paid to Fianna Fail had come from Rennicks and not from Joseph Murphy Structural Engineering.

"I similarly did not know that he in fact had received not one contribution of £30,000 in June 1989, but two, amounting to £60,000, nor could this reasonably be inferred from his statement to the Dail."

He added that it was a pity that this had not been brought to light for the benefit of the House last autumn, when the ministerial statement was being made.

Outlining the sequence of events leading to the disclosure of the £30,000 payment from Rennicks, Mr Ahern said that the Flood tribunal made an order for discovery and for production against Fianna Fail on February 20th.

The order dealt with contributions made by Mr James Gogarty, Mr Michael Bailey or any person or company connected with them. The tribunal also sought discovery of documents of any payments by Mr Burke to the party's national organisation since January 1st, 1989.

Fianna Fail disclosed to the tribunal the documentation relating to Rennicks and confirmed that the party had only received one £10,000 contribution by way of bank draft from Mr Burke in 1989. "At no stage prior to the delivery of the affidavit of discovery had the tribunal ever asked any questions of Fianna Fail in relation to Rennicks. We were the ones who told them about Rennicks."

The affidavit was prepared in the weeks immediately before April 1st, when a search of the party's files and books of nine years ago had been undertaken.

Fianna Fail provided an extensive affidavit on April 1st. "At no stage prior to the delivery of the affidavit of discovery had the tribunal ever asked any questions of Fianna Fail in relation to Rennicks, the Fitzwilton subsidiary referred to in Magill", Mr Ahern told the House.

The party received a contribution by way of a bank draft from Mr Burke for £10,000. This had been credited to the party's account. Other documents had been discovered: an official party receipt to Rennicks acknowledging receipt of £10,000; an extract from the cash receipts book showing the contribution from Rennicks in the sum of £10,000; and a photocopy of a compliments slip from Rennicks, accompanying the donation, which also bore the name of Ray Burke.

Mr Ahern said that up to then he understood the £10,000 received from Ray Burke in 1989 was from a contribution he had received from Joseph Murphy Structural Engineering. He added that it had been "reasonable to presume in the main that it came from this source".