Ms Beverly Cooper-Flynn faces automatic expulsion from the Fianna Fail parliamentary party for an unspecified period following her dramatic decision to vote against the Government last night.
After a lengthy day of wheeling and dealing to avoid a division in the Dail, Ms Cooper-Flynn strode into the Opposition lobbies to vote against a Government amendment calling on her father, the EU Commissioner, Mr Padraig Flynn, to make a statement clarifying his position about the alleged £50,000 he received from Mr Tom Gilmartin in 1989.
Her action threatens the minority Coalition's voting strength in the Dail and, throughout yesterday, openly exposed the Government's sense of its own vulnerability.
The first moves in a day of drama began before lunchtime yesterday when the Government Chief Whip, Mr Seamus Brennan, made a "hypothetical offer" to Fine Gael that the Government would support its amended motion to consider the issue of a statement from Mr Flynn "within the next three weeks", if the issue was not put to a vote.
By that stage Ms Cooper-Flynn had informed the Taoiseach that all of her father's legal advice was that he should not make a statement until he was called before the Flood tribunal to confront the allegation that he had received £50,000 intended for - but not passed on to - Fianna Fail.
"A Flynn must support a Flynn", she told Mr Ahern and Mr Brennan. She never actually stated that she would vote against them.
The Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, gave the first firm indication of the deal when he told political correspondents at 1.30 p.m. that this move was "a very important parliamentary victory for Fine Gael".
The Fine Gael front bench met and informed the Government Chief Whip at 3.20 p.m. that a deal could be done.
There were divided opinions about the desirability of such a deal when the Taoiseach and his Fianna Fail ministers met Mr Brennan at 5.30 p.m. Mr Ahern was concerned that he would be seen to be weak if he supported a deal putting off the inevitable vote for three weeks.
At 7 p.m., however, just as the Dail debate on the Flynn motion was resuming, Mr Brennan informed the Fine Gael whip, Mr Sean Barrett, that the deal was done.
Within minutes, the Labour Party announced that it would be calling a vote in the Dail anyway at 8.30 p.m.
In a hard-hitting speech, Ms Cooper-Flynn told the Dail at 7.30 p.m. that until she saw the votes counted she would not bring herself to believe that the party she knew would "collaborate" with the Opposition parties on a "tacky" motion.
She said that Fianna Fail should not collude in its own destruction or collude "in the continuing portrayal of our party as intrinsically, essentially and eternally flawed by seeming to reward others who claimed to be its moral guardians. Every time we do it, we are buying today's survival at the cost of tomorrow's existence. We are eroding our faith in ourselves and we are betraying our supporters".
The thrust of Ms Cooper-Flynn's prepared speech was that tribunals should be allowed to run their due process. She did not mention the £50,000.
Her speech, which stung many Fianna Fail members, was later described as "vitriolic" by sources close to the party's leadership.
The former leader of the Progressive Democrats, Mr Des O'Malley, who shared his Dail time with Ms Cooper-Flynn, said that the next few months could be crucial in the political life of the State.
The vulnerability of the Government was further signalled when Mr O'Malley said that politicians would have a clear choice in how they responded to further revelations. "We may have no general election for two or three years, but events may dictate otherwise", he said.
He was applauded by Opposition TDs and by Mr Liam Lawlor of the six Fianna Fail members present in the chamber.
