The Taoiseach has dismissed Opposition calls for an early general election as "nonsense" and their list of alleged Government failings as a "rant".
Bertie Ahern
Mr Ahern was speaking in Dublin today as Fine Gael and Labour said they planned to introduce a motion in the Dáil condemning the Government's performance and calling for an early vote.
The motion will be introduced during private members' time and will be debated tomorrow and Wednesday. But Mr Ahern told reporters today the parties would "have a heart failure" if he called an election. "It's just a bit of nonsense," he added.
The Opposition motion lists 13 alleged Government failures in areas such as crime, health, education and taxpayers' value for money.
Speaking to reporters at the launch of the 2006 Ladies' Football Championship in Croke Park, Mr Ahern ridiculed the Opposition's attack: "It's amazing actually, the motion is so badly drafted.
"To put forward a motion at the end of the [Dáil] session that doesn't mention the economy, employment, the huge reductions in unemployment, the huge payments to people on welfare, the huge amounts of money being spent on infrastructure - it's just really a list of Opposition rant."
While in bullish form, Mr Ahern conceded that the findings of a Red C / Sunday Business Postopinion poll would give cause for concern if it was election time.
But he said considering the Government's difficulties in recent weeks the figures were not especially worrying.
"At the end of what has been a fairly busy and hectic month - particularly the Supreme Court striking down, which we had no control over - it's alright," Mr Ahern said.
The Governemnt has also been rocked by public feuding of the leadership of coalition partner the Progressive Democrats; and a push by disaffected backbench TDs within Fianna Fáil for a greater say in party policy.
Recent high-level reports also described the Irish health service as being the second worst in Europe and suffering from under-spending.
The poll taken after the these events showed a continuance of the fall in support for Fianna Fáil that has been evident from the start of the year. It showed the party down a point to 34 percentage points, while Fine Gael has stayed steady at 26 percentage points.
Labour has dropped two points to 12 and Sinn Féin stands on 9 points - up one. The Green Party were on 7 points, while the Progressive Democrats registered at 3 percentage points - both unchanged.
Yesterday Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea said the Government had endured "a troubled time" over the past two months.
Speaking after he announced a campaign to recruit more women into the Defence Forces, Mr O'Dea insisted that Fine Gael and Labour were failing to capitalise on the Government's difficulties.
"Despite the problems that the Government is undoubtedly having, the two Opposition parties who aspire to be in government don't seem to be making significant progress either."
Pointing to a fall in Labour in opinion poll, Mr Lenihan claimed that Labour's support was falling because of Fine Gael's "strong right-wing positions" adopted by Enda Kenny.