Party leaders made their final pitches to the electorate today as speculation mounted over who would form the next government.
Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte said he believed Fianna Fáil would rely on the support of Sinn Féin to stay in power.
But Taoiseach Bertie Ahern insisted his party would do no such deal. "The only way a government will work is if you have an arrangement, a pact, an understanding, an agreement. And we're not going to do that with Sinn Féin," he said.
In a question and answer session on ireland.comtoday, Gerry Adams said there was an "irony" in Fianna Fáil celebrating the joint government in the North and "denying any role to Sinn Féin in Government in the south".
As party leaders entered the last day of campaigning ahead of the embargo on election reporting at midnight, newspapers focused on defining the options for voters with the prospect of a hung Dáil a distinct possibility.
The Irish Timeshighlighted Fianna Fáil's efforts to attract transfer votes, while the Irish Examinerled with Fine Gael accusing Fianna Fáil of a negative and untruthful campaign.
The Irish Independentinterpreted comments by Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte yesterday as suggesting he was leaving open the possibility of coalescing with Fianna Fáil.
As the campaign drew to a close ahead of Thursday's vote, Mr Ahern canvassed voters in Ballina, Monksland and Ballinasloe while Fine Gael Enda Kenny visited the constituencies of Waterford, Cork East & Limerick West.
In an interview on RTÉ Radio earlier, Mr Ahern conceded he might not even be in the equation himself. "Maybe others will form the numbers and they won't want me. My job is to try and maximise every vote I can," he said.
But Fine Gael claimed today that after a decade of "broken promises" from Fianna Fáil, the Government's time was up.
The party's deputy leader Richard Bruton said Fianna Fáil had fought a campaign "based on fear, fanciful lies and distortions".
"Nothing says more about this Government's complacency, arrogance and attitude than the images that we saw on Sunday with balloons and champagne and confetti coming down from the rafters at a Fianna Fáil rally," Mr Kenny said.
"Well I can tell you one thing, no one lying on a trolley in a hospital corridor is popping any champagne corks," he said.
On the Fianna Fáil side, Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern said: "I think it's fair to say, we've been the underdog in this election."
Dismissing Fine Gael's well-publicised contract as "a cynical gesture", Mr Ahern said the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern had "dismantled" Mr Kenny's "fraudulant contract" on RTÉ television last week during the leader's debate.
He said Fianna Fáil had published "deliverable proposals" and that the election now came down to a vote for "substance versus sound bites".