The Taoiseach insisted there was no intrigue concerning the resignation of the Minister of State for Agriculture, Mr Ned O'Keeffe.

During prolonged and heated exchanges, Mr Ahern came under pressure from the Opposition deputies to answer questions on the resignation. Opposition deputies criticised a decision by the Ceann Comhairle, Mr Seamus Pattison, to disallow special notice questions on the issue.

Amid the uproar, the House was briefly suspended, and Mr Pat Rabbitte (Labour, Dublin South West) was asked to leave the chamber. Earlier Mr Rabbitte said: "There is an entire category in this House, Ministers of State, who are apparently being besieged by an unknown, unelected, political assassin."

Mr Ahern intervened to comment on the resignation. "Deputy O'Keeffe informed me at 4 p.m. last Friday that because of the events that had occurred overnight in the Public Offices Commission, he thought it better that he continue to protest his innocence and proceed to deal with the matter with his legal representatives before the commission over the coming period - for how long, neither of us knew.

"He asked if he could talk to his family and prepare a statement and that, around lunch time, or after, on Saturday, he would give an interview and resign.

"He and I agreed there would be no further talk about it. I made one comment on a request from the Government press secretary. I said I would deal with the issue.

"That was what I agreed with Deputy O'Keeffe. Unfortunately, the statements on Saturday morning upset Deputy O'Keeffe.

"From my dealings with Deputy O'Keeffe in recent months, the position was as simple as this. Before Christmas, Deputy O'Keeffe believed if the Public Offices Commission could deal with the matters quickly, he would be exonerated and that he would not have a difficulty.

"At one stage, he believed the matter could be dealt with quickly in early January through correspondence. That was the view of the senior counsel and solicitor who were dealing with the matter for him.

"On the basis that he was cleared, I had no difficulty in him staying in his post, but, as we know, things moved on. I told him that I believed that even if he was cleared by the commission, it would be better for him to move on from that Department.

"As events occurred, moving him on did not arise because not only did the commission not complete proceedings, it had to move into formal session. When Deputy O'Keeffe realised this would be prolonged over a period of time, he rang me. That is all that happened. In the normal tradition of the House, when a Minister of State resigns, an announcement is made by the Taoiseach accepting the resignation and appointing another. There is no other intrigue in the matter."

Earlier, the FG leader, Mr Michael Noonan, said he could not agree to yesterday's Order of Business. "The Taoiseach has a responsibility to make a statement to the House and to subject himself to questions from the Opposition on the Deputy Ned O'Keeffe affair.

"This resignation is shrouded in ambiguity. There is a direct conflict between statements made by the former Minister of State with responsibility for food and those made by the Taoiseach."

The Labour leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, said: "The cover fire is fairly good but not good enough. We know what is going on. An hour after Deputy O'Keeffe resigned, the brave Taoiseach sent out some of his bullyboys to spin to the effect: `If you don't resign, we're going to fire you'."

When the Opposition challenged a vote on the Order of Business, the Government won the division by 68 votes to 62.