The allegation by the Fine Gael leader, Mr Michael Noonan, that a vote for Fianna Fáil was a vote for "corruption, cronyism and sleaze" has provoked an angry response from the party.
Insisting that neither the public nor the Progressive Democrats trusted Fianna Fáil to govern on its own, Mr Noonan published a 10-point programme to "eliminate the cancer" of corruption from Irish society.
However, the Government Chief Whip, Mr Seamus Brennan, said Mr Noonan's remarks were "a last desperate throw of the dice. Having lost all substantive debate in this campaign, Fine Gael now want to drag this election down to the level of gutter politics."
Mr Brennan added that the Government had introduced more ethics reform than any previous administration.
Despite years of tribunals, corruption had not been ended, said Mr Noonan. "There is a tendency, assiduously fostered by the dark forces within Fianna Fáil, to assume that corruption is a thing of the past.
"They would have people believe that cronyism and sleaze are hangovers from a bygone era, which today's party has turned its back on. This is not the true position.
"Sadly, corruption, cronyism and sleaze are still very much alive and well in Irish politics today. To pretend otherwise is to shut our eyes to a truth that is staring us in the face," he went on.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, had frequently promised to improve political ethics and failed to deliver. "He talks a good game, but that is as far as it goes. Look at Denis Foley and Padraig Flynn," he declared.
Lessons from the Flood tribunal had not been learned and acted upon.
"Are we to shut our eyes to the fact that the action on rezoning has now moved on to the adjoining counties of Meath, Kildare and Wicklow?" he asked.
Publishing a 10-point plan, Mr Noonan said future rezonings by county councillors should have to be approved by an independent national land use commission, headed by a High Court judge.
The existing appointments systems for the judiciary should be further revamped to remove political influence, while a proper system to discipline errant judges should be introduced.
Fine Gael's own ban on corporate donations should become the law for all parties. "Claims that such donations are made from disinterested motives are simply not believed by the public.
"Are we to continue to ignore the public demand that government decisions should not only be made fairly and impartially but should be seen to be made fairly and impartially," said Mr Noonan.
The Government should not control the disbursement of lottery funds.
"Lottery money is the people's money. Fine Gael believe that it should be disbursed evenly across the country, in a fair and impartial way," he said.
"In recent years, however, political control over disbursements has been blatantly abused. The lottery has become a political slush fund, used by Ministers to advance their standing in their own constituencies."
The Oireachtas should be given extra powers to oversee government spending and actions, while governments should be blocked from passing legislation in haste, unless they had the support of two-thirds of the Dáil.
The libel laws should be changed to encourage public debate, and yet protect the good name of individuals. People should have just one year to begin an action, rather than six, for instance.
Media organisations should be given credit for publishing speedy apologies, while the law should be changed to force organisations to provide space in cases where they were not agreeable.
"To the many people who won't vote at all on Friday because the scandals have been revolted by the scandals of the past few years, I urge them to reconsider," Mr Noonan said. "Ireland's democracy will fall if our people refuse to engage in it.
"By the time that that happens it will be too late to do anything about it. You now have something to vote for. I ask all the people of Ireland to join with us in giving birth to a new Ireland," Mr Noonan concluded.