The Taoiseach and the Minister for Social and Family Affairs have both firmly denied that Mr Ahern's speech to the Fianna Fáil Ardfheis contradicted Mr Brennan's advance media briefing for the event.
The two men spoke briefly to reporters at Busáras in Dublin yesterday, prior to the launch of the new all-island free travel scheme for pensioners.
When the Taoiseach was asked if his ardfheis speech undermined Mr Brennan, who had declared in advance that Fianna Fáil would not be matching the "unprecedented scale" of Opposition promises, Mr Ahern replied: "There was no auction politics. Minister Brennan said that we would be prudent."
Reading from a document which the Minister handed to him, Mr Ahern quoted Mr Brennan as saying in advance of the ardfheis that, "the Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance, in due course at a mixture of outings, whether it's the ardfheis or whether it's the manifesto, will lay out the taxation policies". Mr Ahern commented: "And that's what we did."
When the Minister was asked if he felt the Taoiseach had "pulled the rug" from under him in the ardfheis speech, Mr Brennan replied: "No. I did make it clear that, either at the ardfheis or in the manifesto or in other policy documents, we would deal with taxation. That's what the Taoiseach did at the ardfheis, so I am quite satisfied."
The Taoiseach was the boss? "And he's right as well," Mr Brennan replied. He told The Irish Times later that the quote read out by the Taoiseach was from a transcript of the Minister's comments at the pre-ardfheis press conference.
Asked if he had any comment on the speech by Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny at his party's ardfheis, Mr Ahern said: "No, it was the Fine Gael Ardfheis, and I read it."
When he was giving advance details of the ardfheis in Dublin on March 20th, Mr Brennan accused Opposition parties of engaging in "alarming" auction politics.
"We will promise less because our approach will deliver more," he said. However, after his ardfheis speech, Mr Ahern was accused of outbidding the Opposition in this type of politics with 53 different promises.