The Taoiseach has finally condemned Mr Liam Lawlor's behaviour towards the Flood tribunal and agreed to remove him from Dail committees. This follows intense pressure from the Progressive Democrats and the Opposition.
Mr Ahern's move came as Mr Lawlor began his prison sentence for failing to comply with a court order to provide the Flood tribunal with all of his company and financial records.
He entered Mountjoy jail in north Dublin shortly before lunchtime yesterday.
A Government spokesman said last night that Mr Ahern agrees with Mr Justice Smyth's condemnation of Mr Lawlor's failure to co-operate with the tribunal.
The spokesman said he agreed with the judge's comment in relation to Mr Lawlor's defiance of the tribunal: "That he did so as a citizen is a disgrace; that he did so as a public representative is a scandal."
The clear condemnation - through his spokesman - comes after two days in which Mr Ahern confined himself to general exhortations for people to co-operate with tribunals.
Before the spokesman's comments, the leaders of Fine Gael and Labour had again criticised Mr Ahern for failing to condemn the deputy's behaviour.
The Taoiseach's spokesman also confirmed that the Government will propose a Dail motion to have Mr Lawlor removed from the Dail committees of which he remains a member.
This decision was announced yesterday afternoon, shortly before the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, was due to call publicly for such a motion to be tabled and passed. A PD spokesman had called for Mr Lawlor's removal the previous night, while Fine Gael announced yesterday that it would table such a motion when the Dail resumes at the end of the month.
However, the Taoiseach's spokesman insisted yesterday that the agreement to have Mr Lawlor removed was not prompted by this pressure.
The decision to table the motion represents a shift in the Taoiseach's position since Monday, which was to say only that such a move should be "considered".
In contrast, the Taoiseach's spokesman said yesterday that "it has always been the Taoiseach's intention to restore the full complement of Fianna Fail TDs on committees at the appropriate time". This had to be done through a Dail motion, he said, and would be done "at the earliest possible opportunity".
There was speculation last night that Mr Lawlor would resign from the committees before a Dail vote is taken.
He is a member of the Finance and Public Services Committee, the Public Enterprise and Transport Committee, and a sub-committee of the Committee on Procedure and Privileges dealing with deputies' services. But he is not, according to the Leinster House information office, a member of that committee itself.
The Taoiseach's decision came as Fine Gael announced it would table a motion seeking Mr Lawlor's removal from the committees. The Fine Gael leader, Mr Bruton, said Mr Ahern had "yet again waited until the very last moment to take minimal action, and only then when forced to do so".
The Tanaiste, Ms Harney, declined to say whether she had pressed the Taoiseach to make his announcement, although it is understood that officials in her office discussed the issue with the Taoiseach's officials in the past two days.
She told reporters yesterday that Mr Ahern had been aware of the PDs' view since last week. "The Progressive Democrats strongly believe the Oireachtas must respond to what has happened in the courts this week."
Asked had she communicated her view to the Taoiseach, she said: "I think the Progressive Democrats' view is very clear from last week and again from comments we made yesterday . . . Obviously Government sources have been in discussion with each other. It is the view of the Government that Deputy Lawlor should be removed from the committees he is a member of.
"The Oireachtas has a duty to protect the integrity of the courts, the tribunals and of the body politic itself. It's a sad day when somebody from the Oireachtas, a Dail deputy, finds himself in this position but I think we have to respond.
"I understand that there will be a response from the Government. The Government Chief Whip will be tabling a motion."
Mr Lawlor's relationship with Fianna Fail was "purely a matter for them. It is not a matter for the Progressive Democrats and it is not a matter for Government."