Fine Gael reaction:Fine Gael's Richard Bruton has responded sharply to criticisms from Minister for Finance Brian Cowen, accusing him of making unsubstantiated claims about the economic policies agreed between the two main Opposition parties.
In a statement issued after the Fianna Fáil news conference yesterday, the Fine Gael deputy leader and economic spokesman said: "Every economic commentator in the country has scrutinised our fiscal plans - plans that are based on conservative assumptions taken from the most authoritative economic sources - and considered them to be prudent and soundly-based.
"In fact, Fine Gael and Labour growth and tax forecasts are even more conservative than those used by Fianna Fáil themselves.
"But when Cowen puts Fine Gael and Labour's joint proposals through his secret magic computer, they somehow produce budget deficits. The Fianna Fáil computer that Brian Cowen claims he used to back up his angry attack on the cost of Fine Gael and Labour's policies is about as reliable as his Government's ill-fated e-voting machines.
"The only other rational explanation is that Cowen may have finally found a use for the PPARS computer system that his Government wasted €162 million on."
According to Fine Gael, the Minister's "highly-anticipated economic attack document was laughed into oblivion just two weeks ago".
The statement suggested the Minister may have been hoping, that "if he repeats a false attack often enough somehow it will become true". But the joint proposals were based on his own Department of Finance's figures and were "fully affordable".