The Tánaiste, Ms Harney, has warned that Fianna Fáil should not take the PDs for granted in the wake of the implicit attack on the junior Coalition partner by the Minister for Communications, Mr Dermot Ahern.
As Ms Harney questioned how one of her Cabinet colleagues could claim her party was not committed to social justice, PD sources said there was upset in the party that Mr Ahern's speech to Fianna Fáil activists in Dundalk had been "pushed out of Government Buildings" on Saturday.
Ms Harney said she very much hoped that the Government was as stable as it had ever been and said she would continue to place political stability ahead of other issues if that was possible.
"But it requires two people to want that to be possible and certainly there will be no question of people seeking to scapegoat the Progressive Democrats in this Government.
"If that's a view that people have, then of course alternatives may happen very quickly."
Mr Ahern used the speech to reject any dependence on "unbridled market forces" in the formation of economic and social policy and he condemned suggestions by the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, that inequality could be an incentive in the economy.
While such remarks brought criticism of the PDs into the Cabinet from the Fianna Fáil back-benches, Mr Ahern is understood to have phoned Ms Harney yesterday in an effort to defuse the tension caused by his remarks ahead of a Cabinet meeting today which will be chaired by the Tánaiste. Mr Ahern's remarks were criticised by the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, who said "I don't think after an election like that that it's helpful for anyone, particularly in a Government, to be blaming anybody else".
In Coleraine yesterday, Ms Harney claimed alternatives to current arrangement between the Coalition parties could happen very quickly if Fianna Fáil continued to "scapegoat" the PDs for the Government's poor performance in the elections. Fianna Fáil TDs have blamed the PD influence in the Government for its worst local election since the 1920s when its support fell to 32 per cent, down nine points from the 2002 general election.
The PD share of the vote in local election rose to 4 per cent from 3 per cent in the 1999 poll but the party failed to make the gains it had anticipated.
While Mr Ahern is seen by some as a leadership contender in Fianna Fáil circles, his remarks were read by TDs as an effort to position himself to the left of the party should Mr Bertie Ahern leave domestic politics for the European Commission.
Sources close to Mr Dermot Ahern claimed that he was not attacking Ms Harney, but was referring to Mr McDowell.
The sources said he believed Mr McDowell's portrayal of inequality as an economic incentive "wasn't helpful to the Fianna Fáil election campaign". Despite efforts by the Taoiseach to play down the significance of the remarks, Ms Harney clearly indicated she was unhappy that the latest attack had come from within the Cabinet.
"The point I want to make strongly is this, that any fair-minded person who has participated in Government meetings for the last seven years, would know of my commitment and that of the Progressive Democrats to social justice in Ireland."
