Dáil Independents and Opposition parties should work in the national interest and not provoke political instability by threatening to block the work of government, Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern has said.
Speaking in Co Louth after a meeting with Stormont justice minister David Ford and Scottish cabinet secretary Kenny MacAskill, he played down the threat posed by Fine Gael's withdrawal of Dáil pairing arrangements.
"Governments always have problems, if you put your mind back to any time the Dáil comes back you always have this type of issue. It happened last year and the year before. We'll get through it," he said.
Mr Ahern added he wouldn't "overemphasise" the issue of Dáil Independents making calls in relation to constituency matters and threatening to withdraw support from the Government.
"Ultimately those people are elected to put the country first," he said. "I think there is nobody in Leinster House who doesn't accept that the country is in a difficult position. We obviously have to look at the wider scheme of things, we all have issues in our constituencies that are of concern to us, but ultimately what we do need in this country if we are to get out of our difficulties is political stability. Despite the shrill voices from some people who personally have a vested interest - they feel they have to get into government at any cost - they are not putting the interests of the country first."
He said the Government had a mandate, given to it by the electorate two and a half years ago and would continue to govern "as long as we are let".
Asked if he thought Government backbenchers were withdrawing their support, he said: "Well, we'll wait and see about that. They have to make a decision - will they cause an election? Will they pull down a government, will they create political instability because of one particular issue?
"The situation in the country is so serious economically that I think people need to think twice in relation to that. If they make that decision, so be it. It's on their own heads." He said his personal philosophy in politics was "to take every day as it comes".
"We still have a significant working majority, and I have no doubt that despite all the predictions [that the Government will fall] that none of them has come to pass. It's better not to make predictions and we will take every day as it comes."
Referring to threats to withdraw support for the coalition, Mr Ahern added: "Mattie McGrath is entitled to make his views known in relation to his own people. He will be in discussions with the chief whip and ultimately it's a matter for him."
He said the Government would get on with its business in spite of Fine Gael's stated aim of withdrawing the pairing arrangement in Leinster House.
"The Opposition have to be realistic. If ministers have a job to do selling the country and trying to get a bit of business into the country they should be let do it. But if they [Fine Gael] are going to play, as somebody said, 'silly buggers', so be it."