The Government defeated a Fine Gael motion condemning the Coalition's failure to curb inflation by 74 votes to 66.

On the second night of a two-day debate, Fine Gael's finance spokesman, Mr Michael Noonan, said inflation made people poorer and the Minister for Finance was making the bulk of citizens poorer than they were at the beginning of the year and at a time when the State was never more prosperous.

Mr Tommy Broughan (Lab, Dublin North-East) said this year had been a "total disaster" for social welfare recipients. This Government would always be remembered as slashing social welfare in real terms at a time of unprecedented growth, he claimed.

Mr McCreevy was, however, staunchly defended by his party colleagues, including Mr Conor Lenihan (Dublin South-West). He said the Minister should "take a bow" for his singular determination, and stressed that 70 per cent of inflation in the last year was down to three factors - excise duty on tobacco, the 2 per cent rise in European interest rates and the increase in global energy prices.

Fine Gael's agriculture spokesman, Mr Alan Dukes, said it was nonsense for the Government to claim it could only reduce excise duty on fuel at Budget time.