The Government has narrowly defeated a Dáil motion calling for an immediate byelection in Waterford.
The Coalition voted down the joint Fine Gael and Labour motion calling on the Government to set a date for the byelection by 77 votes to 72, maintaining a majority of only five.
Fine Gael party leader Enda Kenny said it was disgraceful that the Government was afraid to go before the people in the constituency, claiming it was clinging to power.
"I contend that this Government are guilty of political cowardice in refusing to contest this byelection in the constituency of Waterford," Mr Kenny said.
The Waterford constituency has had a vacancy since the resignation of Fianna Fáil TD and former minister Martin Cullen stepped down in March.
The Government also faces byelection votes in Donegal South West, following former TD Pat 'the Cope' Gallagher's election to the European Parliament last June, and in Dublin South where former Fine Gael TD George Lee stepped down in February.
In a swipe at Fine Gael, Government chief whip John Curran said it was normal convention that the party whose member has left moves the writ.
"I understand this probably would have been somewhat difficult for Fine Gael to have moved the writ, taking this motion for the Dublin constituency in which it was their own member, even though it predates the vacancy caused by the departure of Martin Cullen," Mr Curran said.
"In that regard I refer to this as political opportunism," he said.
But Mr Kenny hit back, claiming Fine Gael would move a private member’s motion next week requiring all byelections be held within a six-month period.
During the debate on the motion, Waterford Fianna Fáil TD Brendan Kenneally claimed the electorate was more concerned with the management of the economy than holding the three pending byelections.
The byelections would make little difference to the Dáil arithmetic as the Government would still have a majority, he said, saying people were more focused on the creation of jobs.
But Fine Gael's Phil Hogan claimed the Government was "running scared" and that it did not want the electorate to cast its verdict on recent Government policies.
Speaking on RTÉ radio following the vote, Mr Hogan said the Government was denying the electorates in the three consitituencies their entitlement to full representation in the Dáil.
The Government suffered a scare earlier this month when a vote on holding another outstanding byelection in Donegal South West ended in a tie after two Fianna Fáil TDs voted with the Opposition.
