The women in question are entitled to a response. It is clear the Government is not giving the matter the priority it deserves.

As for the position of the Taoiseach, it is as clear to the Tánaiste as it is to every Deputy on this side of the House and most Members on the Government side that Deputy Ahern's days as Taoiseach are numbered. The Minister for Defence, Deputy O'Dea, need not smile. He took an each way bet on Sunday by having two articles in the Sunday Independent, one defending the Taoiseach and the other praising the Minister for Finance. He cannot lose.

It was nothing less than they deserve.

Every Member of the House and members of the general public now know that the Taoiseach's days are numbered. The issue to be faced up to is whether his departure from office will be long and painful or whether the Tánaiste will act. What really matters now is not so much what the Tánaiste says as what action he will take. The half-hearted defence he has given the Taoiseach over the past two days does not fill me with a great deal of confidence that his support will continue. The sooner the Tánaiste acts by gathering around himself a couple of senior Ministers, knocking on the Taoiseach's door and telling him the game is up and the country needs to move on from the scandalous and embarrassing position in which the Taoiseach has placed it as a result of the convoluted and unbelievable evidence he has given before the tribunal, the better for all of us.

Given the adversarial nature of our political system, there is nothing I can say to the Deputy that would fill him with sufficient confidence. His job is to try to ebb confidence away from the Government. He is not interested in confidence in the Government. That is my first point.

My second point is meant slightly humorously. If ever I want advice on coups or conspiracies, I can knock on the door of former Workers Party activists who would give me a lecture in democratic centralism.

The Tánaiste is dredging the barrel.

They know how to get rid of the evidence.