Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny has called on the Tánaiste to appear before the Public Accounts Committee to explain the package paid to former Fás head Rody Molloy.
Speaking in Dublin today, Mr Kenny said the pension package provided to Mr Molloy before he resigned his position as director general of Fás was "appalling".
"The Government don't seem to appreciate the extend of anger that is out among people when they see gross incompetence being rewarded at the highest level," he said.
He said it should be clearly understood that Taoiseach Brian Cowen, Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise Mary Coughlan and Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan all had an involvement in the way the matter was handled.
He could not understand why the cabinet and the Minister did not ask for legal advice from the attorney general who was "sitting at the cabinet table in view of the fact that the director general was being removed from a state agency where one thousand million of public money was wasted".
Mr Kenny said Ms Coughlan should go before the public accounts committee and tell the story from the Government point of view.
He declined to call for her resignation.
"I'd like to give everybody an opportunity to have their say and to have the truth come out here," he said.
"Tánaiste Coughlan is entitled to go in before the public accounts committee and explain what her actions were, how she has been involved with this and … why the Government did not seek legal advice from the attorney general."
