One of the most outspoken Government backbenchers has said his appointment by the Taoiseach as vice-chairman of the prestigious Dáil Committee on Public Accounts will not muzzle him.
Carlow-Kilkenny TD Mr John McGuinness, who has been the most vocal critic of Mr Ahern and his Cabinet since the May general election, said last night he would still speak out on issues about which he felt strongly despite his promotion.
The TD pledged to use his new position to ensure the Civil Service, health boards and local councils provide value for money.
During the Nice campaign, Mr McGuinness accused the Government of lacking decisive leadership and of sending "a garbled, scrambled message" to the electorate.
He was highly critical of ministers and junior ministers for engaging in "spurious debates" about whether a spending reduction was a "cut" or an "adjustment".
Mr McGuinness, a former mayor of Kilkenny, said Government backbenchers and local politicians were not rubber stamps and should not be viewed as such.
"They are leaders and representatives of their constituencies and communities, an important pillar of our democracy," he said, "and they are in politics because they want to make a difference. They should firmly insist on having the authority and respect their role demands."
Mr McGuinness called for a radical overhaul of local government and criticised the last Local Government Act for not doing it. He said it added new, expensive and ineffective structures.
"Inconsequential legislation dealing with dual mandates and the status of cities concealed the reality that the role of public representatives was being degraded and local democracy emasculated. That needs to be corrected."
Mr McGuinness said the Government must urgently show it was as determined and efficient about how it spent taxpayers' money as it was about collecting it.
"The public are seriously questioning if the political will or power exists to get service and value from some State and local government organisations," he said.
"Many people are wondering if some of these organisations have been replaced by answering or, more to the point, unanswering machines and letterboxes that are never opened."
Mr McGuinness said politicians had, by default, become nothing more than the staff in a complaints department, taking the brunt of public anger and acting on behalf of an inefficient and expensive bureaucratic system over which they had little control.
He claimed that more than 50 per cent of the people who attended weekly political clinics were there because they were unable to get what they were entitled to from the system without political intervention.
He said the number of health boards should be cut and those remaining should be made more efficient and accountable.
"We need more doctors and nurses, fewer administrators, shorter waiting lists and no beds in corridors."
The Civil Service, the TD said, should also be modernised and revitalised and given the equipment and systems it needs to make an effective and efficient contribution to the running of the State.
In consultation with its unions, the Civil Service must begin to sweep away agreements and practices which were obstacles to progress. It also needed to address the lack of qualified professionals, as distinct from career civil servants, in key positions within its structures, he said.
Mr McGuinness said the public and politicians were now subject to greater levels of scrutiny than ever before.
"Those standards should be applied to every organisation under State control."