The Taoiseach had cleared his diary and cancelled a family holiday in Portugal, having been scheduled to appear in Dublin Castle last Thursday and Friday. He will now have to wait until the autumn before he is called as a witness.

According to well-placed sources, the Taoiseach is particularly angered that the evidence given in recent days will now be allowed go unchallenged for a period of at least six weeks. "All that stuff will now be on the record for the next two months. It's amazing and it's very unfair, " one source said.

The sources stressed the Taoiseach was "not moaning" about cancelling his holiday and did so without hesitation.

But having done it, and spent a number of days preparing for his appearance at the tribunal, it was "really annoying" that he was not then called as planned, particularly when he would not now be given the chance to provide his explanation of events until September.

There is also an acceptance within Fianna Fail that it would have been better for the Taoiseach to give evidencelast week . . . given the political system is in holiday mode.

While party figures accept that some of the details emerging from the Mahon tribunal are "embarrassing and awkward", there is no sense of panic within Fianna Fail.

There is an acceptance that a negative finding against the Taoiseach by Mahon could cause problems within the government but that could be two years away . . . an eternity in politics, they say. Senior figures are also comforted by the mandate Ahern received in May's general election.