Cork East TD, Ned O'Keeffe, has given no commitments about his future voting intentions, following his decision on Wednesday to quit the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party.
Mr O'Keeffe had a furious row with the Government Chief Whip, Tom Kitt, on Wednesday evening when he delivered his resignation notice, numerous sources said last night.
However, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern is determined to avoid worsening relations with Mr O'Keeffe, who abstained on Wednesday's no confidence motion in Minister for Health Mary Harney.
Speaking in Dublin yesterday, Mr Ahern said: "Ned O'Keeffe is a good friend of mine and has been for, I don't know how long, 25 years. I have time for Ned O'Keeffe and for his constituency organisation, and for his family.
"His family are very good friends of mine. His son is one of our top-class public representatives. They are very good people. Ned O'Keeffe, no more than myself, is ingrained in the traditions of Fianna Fáil. Obviously, you are always disappointed when anybody resigns the whip of the party, but these are issues that will, hopefully, be looked at another day.
"I am sure that the day will come when Ned O'Keeffe will be back in the party. To me, Ned O'Keeffe epitomises all that is good about the party. I have huge regard for him. He is a good party person. I can't see him being ever other than that," said Mr Ahern.
However, Mr Ahern's effusive compliments to Mr O'Keeffe are being interpreted in some quarters, even within Fianna Fáil, as a sign of weakness as much as anything else.
Some in Fianna Fáil fear that, if riled, Mr O'Keeffe, who failed to turn up to vote for Mr Ahern when he faced a no confidence motion last month, could attack Mr Ahern about the Mahon tribunal.
Nevertheless, Mr O'Keeffe's capacity to damage and public credibility are limited, partly because he has been too critical too often of the Taoiseach and the Government in recent years.
Fianna Fáil's decision to adopt a softly-softly approach has also been influenced by the fact that Mr O'Keeffe spared them the job of expelling him from the parliamentary party.
However, most Fianna Fáil TDs have visibly lost patience over recent months with Mr O'Keeffe, who has complained privately at every turn about the Taoiseach's performance.
Mr Ahern's description of Mr O'Keeffe as "a friend" was regarded last night as particularly amusing within Leinster House, given Mr O'Keeffe's colourful criticism of him for months past.
Mr O'Keeffe remains bitter that Mr Ahern pressured him to quit as a minister of state after it was revealed that he had broken pig and bonemeal safety rules on his pig-farm. The breach was later found to have been inadvertent, but Mr O'Keeffe has always maintained that he resigned only on the promise from Mr Ahern that he would be re-appointed quickly thereafter.
Colleagues have said it was clear since the Dáil returned that Mr O'Keeffe was "planning a spectacular" on some issue, and some were surprised he did not quit on the Ahern confidence motion.
