The Labour Party leader has accused the Taoiseach of not taking the growing housing crisis seriously.
Labour leader Mr Pat Rabbitte
At the launch of his party's manifesto for the local elections, Mr Pat Rabbitte pointed to the Government's failure to deliver 10,000 additional social and affordable housing promised under the Partnership Agreement.
He said: "The one thing that the Taoiseach is not serious about is housing . . . if there's one outrageous disgrace . . . it is access to houses."
Mr Rabbitte argued the Taoiseach was more concerned with making millionaires out of Fianna Fáil's property-developing friends than ensuring families can afford to buy a home. He urged voters to use next month's elections as an opportunity to give Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats a "red card".
Labour hopes to make political capital out of what it believes is widespread frustration at the housing issue and is fielding a record 304 candidates to contest around 350 town, city and county council seats.
The party's manifesto claims Labour first identified the "housing crisis" and trumpets its record in planning and rezoning decisions.
By contrast, it describes Fianna Fáil's record on housing as "shameful" as it allowed the party's builder friends "to grow even richer by halving their Capital Gains taxes".
Mr Rabbitte also attacked the Government over its failure to cap the spending in these elections, pointing out that local councils have been the "major focus of corruption in Irish politics over the last 25 years".
The Labour leader also dismissed a potential carve-up of Labour's traditional left-leaning voters by Sinn Féin, claiming he didn't see any evidence of growing support for the party and described them as "the least effective" in local government.