Labour party sources have dismissed suggestions that criticism by Mr Ruairi Quinn of the party's tax strategy in the general election campaign represented an attack on the leadership.
Mr Quinn, deputy leader and a former minister for finance, writing in Labour's internal magazine, Tilt, says that his party's more equitable policy of widening tax bands was obscure and beyond the comprehension of most voters.
"This concentration on rates ignored the real amount of tax paid or, indeed, issues of equity and equality," he writes. "But in fact the vast majority of people do not fully understand the operation of tax bands and allowances. They are very clear, however, about nominal rates. In that regard, we were not offering as much as the FF-PD package."
The party's political director, Mr Fergus Finlay, said he would find it bizarre if anyone attempted to interpret a reflective piece by a former minister for finance about a past government's tax strategy in the election as a criticism of the leadership.
"The tax strategy pursued, while more complex than that of the opposition, was broadly agreed by the three rainbow parties and, broadly speaking, defined by the minister for finance.
"I think it is indisputable that it was not as glossy and exciting as the policy put forward by the then opposition. While it was clearly more complex and harder to sell, it does not mean that it was wrong or unfair."
Mr Finlay said he himself had been critical of aspects of the campaign.
A number of Labour deputies contacted by The Irish Times welcomed Mr Quinn's observation as a contribution to the election post-mortem, adding that it had nothing to do with the leadership.
One Labour TD said the result of the election was bound to mean questions being asked about policy and presentation. "There will have to be some plain speaking, but it does not mean that any criticism is automatically an attack on Dick Spring's leadership."
