The Minister of State, Ms Joan Burton, has accused the Progressive Democrats of being "seriously irresponsible" to promise large scale cuts in taxation while also promising to reduce crime.
"The PDs are trying to appeal to what people regard as their self interest and to public interest at the same time. They argue that the public interest requires lower taxation and they argue that this is good for the individual.
"Their recipe is similar to that of the new American Right, a seemingly attractive set of slogans which the American unemployed and low and middle income workers now realise is a recipe for poverty and social disaster," she said.