THE Tanaiste and his advisers are deeply annoyed at the dispute generated by Minister of State Mr Pat Rabbitte in the wake of the report of the Task Force on Long Term Unemployment.
Mr Rabbitte, the Minister of State to the Government, telephoned RTE on Wednesday on hearing an interview with the Tanaiste to contradict what Mr Spring had said. Pre Budget tensions within the Government were being blamed for the controversy yesterday.
Meanwhile, Opposition parties said the dispute indicated a chaotic approach by the Government to the economy, with the Progressive Democrats leader, Ms Mary Harney, calling on the Taoiseach to rein in his Ministers.
The Labour leader had described the task force as representing the "definitive response" of the Government to the crisis of long term unemployment and was taken aback when Mr Rabbitte publicly rejected this.
Mr Rabbitte had called RTE in connection with a report "that gave a misleading impression" that this was the Government's definitive response". In fact the report was "merely one aspect" and there were other proposals also before Government, he said.
Though senior sources in the coalition played down the matter, describing it as a "storm in an egg cup", others conceded that Mr Rabbitte's call to RTE had been unwise since it paved the way for reports of a dispute within the Government in the run up to Tuesday's Budget.
"The report is the only document on long term unemployment on which the Government has made a decision. Nobody claims that these proposals are the only basis of Government strategy," one Government source said.
However, a Labour TD, Mr Joe Costello, issued an oblique criticism of Mr Rabbitte yesterday. Mr Costello, a member of the task force, reiterated the Tanaiste's remarks, saying the report was the definitive response. It was the culmination of the most wide ranging consultation ever undertaken between all the social partners, including the jobless, he said.
Mr Ray Burke of Fianna Fail said: "We have witnessed an appalling spectacle in the past few days with different Government Ministers publicly advertising major dissension in Cabinet and some Ministers contacting journalists to flatly contradict their colleagues.
"This carry on is a tragedy for the unemployed who are seeking jobs, for small business which is trying to start up or expand in difficult circumstances and for those who expect serious tax reform from the Government", he added.
The affair underscored "instability in Government", Ms Harney said. She accused Fine Gael, "in their desperate bid to stay in power" of caving in on economic matters to Democratic Left and Labour.