The Opposition has today accused the Green Party of seeking to "jump a sinking ship" after the coalition partner raised concerns over the programme for government.
Green Party leader John Gormley said the 2007 plan may have to renegotiated after the June elections due to the contraction in the economy.
In response, the Taoiseach indicated yesterday he will discuss any concerns that the Greens may have on the programme for government, it was reported today.
Speaking this afternoon on RTÉ radio, Brian Cowen denied the coalition was under threat and said the Government was committed to pursuing the programme of government until 2012.
The Taoiseach said tough decisions were being taken, "and one would not expect people to be entirely happy about that", but that people would expect its Government to take those decisions.
Mr Cowen also dismissed the Opposition, accusing Fine Gael and Labour of not having a set of policies, and said he stood over decisions he had taken over the past 10 years of his political career.
Pressed on his stewardship of the economy, the Taoiseach said: "With hindsight, would you have had the same policies?, no you wouldn't," but he denied making mistakes.
"We have to redesign our taxation rate and achieve public expenditure savings. . . is this the way to get out of our problems, yes it is."
Commenting on recent opinion polls, Mr Cowen said while he understood they were not good for his party, there were "no circumstances" under which he would consider his leadership, pledging the Government would survive the upcoming June elections and continue with its programme.
In ruling out a general election, he said: "The last thing the country needs is another period of instability."
Earlier today, Fine Gael Senator John-Paul Phelan said the Greens knew the Government is "a sinking ship," adding: "and they are preparing to jump from that ship”.
"In seeking to renegotiate the Programme for Government after polls where the standing of the Greens and Fianna Fáil have plummeted and not after a succession of disastrous budgets that attacked the vulnerable in society, shows that this Government is rudderless and sinking. The time for negotiation is over, this Government simply has no mandate to govern."
“The Green Party is realising now what most of the country has known for a long time that this Government has no mandate to govern. It has no moral authority to implement a recovery plan that the country needs and which they cannot deliver in any case," Mr Phelan, a Euro candidate in Ireland East, said.
Labour party leader Eamon Gilmore said he thought the Greens were in the process of devising a strategy to disengage from government.
“The events over the last 48 hours would appear to confirm this,” added his spokesman.
However, Green Party deputy leader Mary White said although the party wants to renegotiate the two-year-old programme for Government, it does not want to distance themselves from Fianna Fáil.
Ms White said the coalition partnership was safe and the party’s were working well in Government.
“We have no exit strategy planned, we’re not planning to do any such thing,” she said. “We’ve work very well with our partners in Government and we continue to work well with them, and I believe we will work well in the future.
“But I’m a business person and anybody in tough business times renegotiates and has a look at where you can make savings,” she told Newstalk. “That’s what we will do.”
Green Party Minister Eamon Ryan also stressed the party was not preparing to exit from Government. “We are in Government to deliver change, not just on the Green agenda but across every area,” he added.
The latest poll, published in a Sunday paper today, found Fine Gael (34 per cent, up 1) is holding onto a big lead over Fianna Fáil (24 per cent, up 1), with Labour at 18 per cent (down 1) and the Greens at 5 per cent, (down 2).
Last week, Senator Dan Boyle, Green Party chairman and European candidate in Ireland South, also call for a review of the programme for government.
“Most of the Green party elements of it have now been implemented. It is a document that is in need of review, and the period after these elections would be an ideal opportunity to do that,” he said, speaking in Tralee.
Mr Boyle said it was clear that the conduct and performance of the Government would dominate the current campaign: “There are too many unresolved issues. Too many policy errors remain that have not been admitted to, areas where responsibility has not been taken.
“The policy of pump-priming the property boom has been a disaster. The light-touch regulation of our financial institutions has been a disaster. The awarding of excessive salary arrangements in the private sector, in the public sector and in political life has been a disaster,” he said.
“The policies pursued have not been Green Party policies, and yet we now find ourselves in government having to deal with their consequences.”