The Tánaiste, Mary Harney, has said she stands over the deal between the Government and the religious institutions on compensation for institutional child abuse.
The agreement limits the religious orders' contribution to €127m, leaving the taxpayer to pick up the rest of the bill.
Ms Harney refused to be drawn on the statement by the Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, yesterday that he had been excluded as Attorney General from some meetings.
The Tánaiste also refused to be drawn on the differences between Mr McDowell and the former Minister for Education, Dr Michael Woods.
The Minister for Finance, Charlie McCreevy, has said the last government had tried to get the best deal possible from the religious bodies.
Mr McCreevy said the State had put the victims into the institutions, and did not follow up when abuses were known for some time.
PAC examining Church-State deal
The Public Accounts Committee has begun its examination of the Church-State deal.
The Secretary General of the Department of Education, John Dennehy, who was involved in negotiating the deal, has admitted he is not aware of any debate taking place in the Dáil on its terms.
Closely questioned by Labour leader Pat Rabbitte, Mr Dennehy admitted he knew of no such debate taking place.
Yesterday in the Dáil, Deputy Rabbitte accused the Taoiseach of 'persisting in the untruth' that the terms of the indemnity had been debated by the Dáil.
Another Department of Education official has said the first time the details of the indemnity were discussed by officials, including officials from the Attorney General's Office, was on 19 April 2002, just five days before the dissolution of the last Dáil.
Deputy Rabbitte observed that the election took place on 17 May, so the details of the deal could not have been debated by the Dáil.
John Dennehy also insisted that there had been no need for the Attorney General to be represented at two meetings with the religious orders in November 2001 and January 2002, because they dealt with 'policy', and the Government had not been bound by anything agreed at the meetings.
