Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore yesterday claimed that Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's reaction to questions about his financial affairs was now "bordering on the hysterical".
Mr Gilmore was referring to what he described as Mr Ahern's intemperate response to Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny's lengthy and scathing attack on him - the Taoiseach accused Mr Kenny of telling "blatant lies".
Following Mr Ahern's strong response, the war of words between him and the two main opposition leaders deepened yesterday. In further strongly worded comments, the Labour leader accused Mr Ahern and his Ministers of trying to gag the media and anybody else who questioned the veracity of his explanation for his personal financial dealings in the 1990s.
"Anybody who raises questions about his personal finances, the first answer is to leave it to the tribunal. When the tribunal goes to ask questions, he attacks the tribunal.
"When the opposition leaders ask him questions, he accuses them of lying.
"And when the press asks questions, he asks them to clam up," he said.
Mr Gilmore asserted that Mr Ahern had refused to acknowledge the seriousness of his situation and also argued that it was difficult to reach any conclusion other than that an attempt was made to mislead the Dáil and the public in regard to his tax status.
"Failure to secure a tax clearance certificate means that he has been unable to establish to the satisfaction of the Revenue Commissioners that he is tax compliant. Is there any precedent from anywhere in the democratic world of a head of government being unable to establish that he is tax compliant and remaining in office?" asked Mr Gilmore.
Meanwhile, Sinn Féin remains the only opposition party not to call for Mr Ahern's resignation over the controversy surrounding his personal finances.
The party's Dáil leader, Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, yesterday said that while Mr Ahern's finances and his tax affairs were serious matters, they were minuscule in comparison to what he claimed was the inequality inherent in Irish society.
Mr Ó Caoláin went on to say that Mr Ahern should resign because of his failures on economic and health policies rather than of the ongoing controversy over his evidence to the planning tribunal.
