The Tánaiste, Ms Mary Harney, has claimed that Fianna Fail now believes that it is in a position to form a single-party government.
Replying to media queries this morning, Ms Harney alleged that, at a Cabinet meeting last Wednesday, an unnamed Fianna Fáil cabinet member "whispered" to her the party believes it can form the next government on its own.
She also said current polls are indicating that Fianna Fáil could take as many as 90 seats in the next Dáil, thus giving it an overall majority of 14.
Ms Harney warned such a government would be a government of vested interests, unable to sustain competitive economic growth and, ultimately, a government that would be forced to raise taxes.
Asked whether this indicated she did not trust the Taoiseach, Mr Bertie Ahern, in a single party government, Ms Harney replied that individual personalities were not in question and that she would have the same reservations about any other single-party government.
"With a fourteen-seat majority in the Dáil and facing a fractured opposition, Fianna Fáil could be looking at ten years in power as a single-party government," Ms Harney said.
"And I do not believe that that would be good for this country."
She insisted that in spite of the poll indications, the people of Ireland wanted a coalition government and it was therefore "absolutely essential" for voters to give Progressive Democrats candidates their number one vote.
"That is the only way to ensure that the people do not end up with a single-party government after next Friday."
However, both the Minister for Finance, Mr Charlie McCreevy, and the Fianna Fáil party chief whip, Mr Seamus Brennan, have rebutted Ms Harney's claims. They said that even in the five elections in the 1980's where Fianna Fáil captured between 45 per cent and 48 per cent of the voters, the party was still unable to form a single-party government.
Mr McCreevy reiterated Mr Ahern's comments in Cork last night that the present coalition was the best possible kind of government for Ireland. "This has been the best administration in my lifetime", he said.
Mr Brennan said he had no objections to Ms Harney urging the electorate to give the PD's their first preference vote as this was part and parcel of an election campaign. He said, however, that if you were to take a tally across the 42 constituencies it would be impossible to argue that Fianna Fáil would make up a single party government.
Mr Alan Dukes of Fine Gael later called on Ms Harney to issue a statement explaining why Fianna Fáil cannot be trusted to be in government alone. "What is she afraid of?" he asked. "Is it sleaze? Is it because Fianna Fáil cannot be trusted with the public finances? Is it because they break their promises? Is it because Fianna Fáil have damaged the fabric of public life?"
Ms Harney's claim follows calls in Cork last night by the Taoiseach, Mr Bertie Ahern, for Fianna Fáil voters to give his coalition partners their transfers in the forthcoming election.
He also tried to play down opinion poll results that showed his party were in line to take a majority of seats in the next Dáil.
The Fine Gael leader, Mr Michael Noonan, described Mr Ahern's speech as an attempt to reconstruct a failed outgoing administration.
"Fianna Fáil and the PDs have proved an abject failure over the last five years and left an appalling legacy with the health services in chaos, crime and lawlessness rampant on our unsafe streets and an empty exchequer," he stated.
The Labour Party dismissed Mr Ahern's comments as a cheap stunt. "He clearly either doesn't believe his party has a prospect of an overall majority or he is keen to create the impression that such an outcome is unlikely," said deputy leader Mr Brendan Howlin.
Sinn Féin said last night that the apparent "pact" was confirmation that "the two parties were indistinguishable in everything but name".
Mr Pat Doherty, the party vice president, claimed many people will be angry at "the fact that neither Bertie Ahern nor Mary Harney had the political courage to announce what is clearly a long standing electoral pact at the outset of this campaign."
Ms Harney is scheduled to hold a televised debate with the Sinn Féin president, Mr Gerry Adams, on TV3's Agenda programme tomorrow.