The Fine Gael leader called on the Taoiseach to call a general election in the New Year.

Describing the Coalition's record as appalling, Mr Michael Noonan said: "The Government should not come back after Christmas. It should go to the country and let the people adjudicate now. As far as the Government is concerned, the show is over, and it is time to give the public the opportunity to adjudicate on its appalling record."

Speaking during the resumed Budget debate, Mr Noonan accused Mr Ahern of spending two days a week in his office.

"He is more often in St Luke's in Drumcondra or elsewhere in the country. Last summer, when the Minister for Finance was trying to meet him to tell him about the deterioration in the public finances, he had to go on pilgrimage to St Luke's in Drumcondra.

"When the Minister for Finance requested a meeting with the Taoiseach, he was told to turn up at his constituency clinic where he could be fitted in between three people looking for medical cards and a woman looking for a house."

Mr Noonan claimed the Minister for Finance was the most disappointed man in the House when he introduced the Budget.

"I remember, in the early 1980s, that the day after the Budget he used to go after the Haughey administration, in particular, and lecture them on sound finances, for not putting the full picture to the people, on voodoo economics and trick-of-the-loop financial measures.

"I understand why he was disappointed when he delivered his Budget, because he was forced by the Government into the position that he had deplored all his life. That is a great tragedy for a man who had a view of how the country's finances should be run. Many of us, on this side of the House, who have a high personal regard for the minister, shared his grief."

Mr Noonan said that after five years of the most prosperous growth ever, the minister had raided a pension fund into which workers had paid their contributions. "The two administrations which have raided pension funds this week are the ones in Argentina and in Ireland. What does that do for our international credibility ? It is justified in Argentina because of the appalling financial crisis. It was done here for expediency, for political purposes to hide the minister's blushes, to pretend we were not sliding into deficit when we are doing so.

"In the best tradition of Mr Haughey, it is to ready-up the financial figures for political purposes. That is a great tragedy for this administration and it also affects our national credibility.

"The minister has also announced that he will force the Central Bank to pay over money. I refer to the business supplement in The Irish Times - spokespersons on behalf of the Central Bank are objecting very strongly to this."

The Minister of State for Finance, Mr Martin Cullen, said he always admired Fine Gael's consistency. As far it was concerned, there was always a crisis, doom and gloom, no hope and nothing to be achieved. Fine Gael, he added, thought it would be able to march up and down the streets accusing the Government of borrowing money. "That is the first thing that did not happen. The second crisis for Fine Gael is that almost everybody in the country is working, which means its market has been removed."