The Chairman of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party has called for the Labour leader to condemn the use of State resources by the party's European election candidate in the East constituency, Mr Peter Cassells.
Mr Séamus Kirk, TD for Louth and a candidate in the same constituency, said that Labour Leader, Mr Pat Rabbitte, "took his usual holier-than-thou stance last week and criticised Fianna Fáil on this issue. I would like to ask Deputy Rabbitte is he willing to follow the Taoiseach's lead and condemn the use of Departmental resources by his own party members?"
Mr Cassells admitted to The Sunday Business Post that he had issued campaign publicity material for his election campaign from the e-mail system at the Government's social partnership agency, the National Centre for Partnership and Performance, of which he was executive chairman until last week.
The former ICTU general secretary accepted it was wrong and he said he took full responsibility for it.
Meanwhile, Labour candidate for Dublin and sitting MEP, Mr Proinsias de Rossa, said he would propose a policy that State aid for companies must be conditional on their providing recognised employment standards and trade union rights for their employees.
Hitting out at a number of changes to airline staff conditions at Ryanair, which became effective from May 1st, Mr de Rossa accused chief executive Mr Michael O'Leary of taking "profit grubbing" to new heights through the changes which included the removal of a subsidised staff canteen, requiring pilots to undertake medicals on days off rather than during working hours, and restricting pension entitlements.
The company said the cost cutting exercises were necessary to allow a back-dated 3 per cent pay rise go ahead.
Fine Gael European candidate for the North-West, Senator Jim Higgins, called for the restoration of the 24-hour air sea rescue service for the North West, following the drowning of a Sligo man at Sligo Quay yesterday.
He said it was " absolutely indefensible, that there was an Air Corps helicopter lying idle within minutes of where the young man was drowned, but it could not take off because of the fact that since last January the services have been cut back to daylight hours".