The former Tánaiste Mary Harney has made an official complaint about Mary Lou McDonald's use of Dail privilege.

The former minister and leader of the Progressive Democrats has written to the Dáil's disciplinary committee, complaining about comments made by Deputy McDonald last week.

Last week the Sinn Féin TD used Dáil privilege to claim that Ms Harney had stopped an internal inquiry into tax evasion, after it had found alleged evidence against her party's founder Des O'Malley.

Ms Harney denies the claims, while Mr O'Malley denies ever having an account with Ansbacher, the bank at the centre of the claims.