The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, refused to comment yesterday on the Fine Gael leadership crisis.
Speaking at the awards presentation for the community development project initiative 2001 in Dublin's docklands, he said it would be inappropriate for him to say anything, and that anything he said could be misconstrued.
Speaking at the same event the Labour party leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, said that while he might have his own personal views on the matter, it was one for the Fine Gael party itself. Any comment from him would be regarded as intrusive, he said.
When it was put to him that the Fine Gael leadership was a matter for Labour because a Fine Gael leader could be Taoiseach in a government which included Labour, he said his party stood on its own political platform. If the numbers were right after an election, it would then negotiate.