Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has declined to respond to former taoiseach Albert Reynolds's criticism of his decision to accept loans and gifts from friends and Manchester-based businessmen in the early 1990s.
Clearly reluctant to comment in detail yesterday in Riyadh, Mr Ahern said: "Well, I don't think that I came out to Saudi Arabia to comment about something ...
"He made that comment back last October and I commented about it then, so my answer is the same as it was then."
Privately, however, there is little doubting the anger within Mr Ahern's circle at Mr Reynolds's decision to draw public attention once more to the controversy that erupted last September after it emerged that he had received €50,000 in payments.
Speaking on Sunday, Mr Reynolds said that he had been "shocked" at the revelations and that he would not have allowed such donations to be accepted had he been told about them at the time by Mr Ahern, as he should have been.
Asked if he would have approved acceptance of the money, Mr Reynolds said: "No chance. There are ways of getting money.
"Go to the bank and borrow it. If you are minister for finance you can pull in the money besides taking it off other people."
