Opposition parties have reacted scornfully to the announcement that the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, is to attend the unveiling of a LUAS tram carriage on Sunday.
Fine Gael have described it as an insult the public intelligence and the Labour Party have termed it a "gross misuse" of public funds. They also took the opportunity to remind Fiann Fáil of questionable photo-calls of the past.
Fine Gael’s Local Government spokeswoman, Ms Olivia Mitchell, said the Taoiseach’s appearance at the unveiling was a pre-election PR stunt.
"It is an insult to the public’s intelligence for Bertie Ahern and Mary O’Rourke to give us yet another photo-call with a LUAS ghost train when traffic congestion in Dublin is crippling the city and infuriating customers," Ms Mitchell said.
Labour Party Environment spokesman Mr Eamon Gilmore said traffic had been disrupted in Merrion Square for several days so that the Taoiseach could be seen pictured beside the carriage.
"When the photo-opportunity is over, the LUAS carriage will be taken away and the hard-pressed commuters of Dublin will not see it again for several years at least.
A spokeswoman for the Taoiseach said the unveiling was intended to allow the publilc an opportunity to see the service they would eventually be using.
"We're showing what the money is being invested in and what will be available in the future," the spokeswoman said.
Both parties described the photo-call as a waste of tax payers money and cited previous elections ‘stunts’.
Mr Gilmore was put in mind of former minister Mr Ray Burke organising the planting of trees on the eve of a Dublin by-election which were removed the day after the vote.
Ms Mitchell meanwhile referred to Mr Mark Killilea organising the installation of telephones that would not be connected for a further six months during an election campaign.