The two Fine Gael leadership candidates have engaged in the first clashes of the campaign, with Simon Coveney suggesting rival Leo Varadkar of using his ministerial position to canvass for the party leadership.
In one of a number of pointed criticisms of the Minister for Social Protection, Mr Coveney also criticised Mr Varadkar’s manifesto as a “list of spending commitments”.
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He also took issue with Mr Varadkar’s statement that Fine Gael needs to be for people who get out of bed early in the morning, saying the party needs to represent other people too.
The Cork South Central TD told Today FM's The Last Word that he looked for the position of Minister for Housing so he could "test himself".
“I don’t know how Leo came to be Minister for Social Protection,” he added. “I don’t try to look for an easy job so I can canvass for another job.”
Mr Varadkar has faced accusations in the past that he has used his ministerial portfolio to tour the country meeting Fine Gael TDs, members and councillors, although this is strenuously denied by Varadkar supporters.
Mr Coveney also criticised the timing of Mr Varadkar’s manifesto announcement on banning certain public sector workers from striking if he was elected Taoiseach.
Launching his manifesto for the Fine Gael leadership, Mr Varadkar said the Oireachtas would identify key public and security services that would be protected from strikes .
However, this would only happen following a Labour Court recommendation that would be legally binding on staff and employers.
Mr Coveney said that, while he agreed with the policy, he said the timing of the policy move was unhelpful since it came on the opening day of the public sector pay talks.
At his launch, Mr Varadkar also implicitly criticised Mr Coveney drawing on the “Just Society” tradition of Fine Gael, which emphasises social reform.
The approach was first proposed in 1965 by Declan Costello, and is also associated with former taoiseach Garret FitzGerald.
Mr Varadkar instead sought to cast himself in the socially and economically liberal mould of French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minster Justin Trudeau.
He said he is not interested in the political philosophies of 30 or 40 years ago but wants to take the best of left and right and focus on the future.
Mr Coveney said he was “surprised to hear Leo semi-rubbishing the idea of a Just Society”.
Addressing a Fine Gael meeting in Wicklow on Monday night, Mr Varadkar said improvements in the tax treatment of self employed people “would not have been made by a Labour minister, “would never happen under a Labour minister, would never happen under a Fianna Fail minister.”
“It would only happen under a Fine Gael minister,” he said.
Mr Varadkar pledged to continue to equalise the position of self-employed people and reiterated his plans to cut the higher rate of tax.
“We should prioritise reductions in the marginal rate,” he said. “It really is damaging us in the battle for talent.”
He said that the top rate of tax was damaging the ability of healthcare employers to attract and maintain workers.
“Our tax rates are not competitive and that’s something that needs to change,” Mr Varadkar said.
He said that people on modest incomes were paying more than half every extra euro they earned in tax if they got a promotion or worked overtime. “And I don’t think that’s fair,” he said.
The meeting heard several speakers raise the issue of the self-employed. Speakers also raised the pensions enjoyed by public sector workers and the level of benefits available to unemployed people.
Mr Varadkar said that he wanted to implement “equality upwards”, while politicians of the left wanted to implement “equality downwards”.
Mr Varadkar also said that the Government has to “hold the line” on public sector pay, and praised the Minister for Transport Shane Ross for refusing to become involved in the Bus Éireann dispute.
He said that “slowly over time and in a way that’s affordable” pay would be restored for public servants. He said he was reluctant to comment because he didn’t want to be seen to be interfering in the talks with the public sector unions, which began on Monday.
He was addressing a meeting of about 100 party members in the Glenview Hotel in the Glen of the Downs.
Meanwhile Minister for Finance Michael Noonan again declined to say on Monday who he would be supporting in the Fine Gael leadership race, noting both candidates were “very good”.
“I think it’s very important for the party membership that once the race has started they would be given their say on the policy issues for the future of the party and the future of the country,” he said on his way into a meeting of euro zone finance ministers in Brussels.
Mr Noonan said both candidates had moved away from the personality issues and into the policy space “and I think that’s very important not only for the party but for the country.”
