The decision by the Dublin West TD, Mr Liam Lawlor, to resign from Fianna Fail was a convenient escape route for the Taoiseach, who promised strong action on foot of the Fianna Fail report, the opposition parties said last night.
The Fine Gael spokesman on Social, Community and Family Affairs, Mr Jim O'Keeffe, described Mr Lawlor's resignation as a Fianna Fail solution to a Fianna Fail problem.
"I find it difficult to give a definitive reaction on the basis that the report does not have definitive conclusions," he added.
The Labour spokesman on the Environment, Mr Eamon Gilmore, said by resigning, Mr Lawlor had done the Taoiseach a favour as it removed any obligation on him to take the kind of action he failed to take in the case of Mr Denis Foley.
Mr Gilmore asked if the PDs were happy with the fact that Mr Lawlor was to continue supporting the Government given its statement of May 12th that any elected representative found to have acted in an improper manner should be required to resign their seat, whatever the implications for the stability of the Government.
The Labour Party spokesman on Justice, Mr Brendan Howlin, rejected the recommendations by the Fianna Fail inquiry team that the Law Reform Commission look at the corruption laws.
"There seems no length to which Fianna Fail will not go to prevent speedy action on these issues. Firstly Fianna Fail wanted to park these issues at an all-party committee. Now it wants to kick them even further to touch."
Mr Joe Higgins of the Socialist Party said the Fianna Fail report, in conjunction with the recent Fine Gael report, showed the sleazy, seamy atmosphere that existed in the 1980s and early 1990s in Dublin County Council.
He said the Fianna Fail report showed that 12 out of 44 councillors interviewed had received funding from Mr Frank Dunlop or Mr Owen O'Callaghan.
The reports showed beyond doubt that the planning process was hopelessly compromised at the time.