Fianna Fáil letter - Opposition reaction: The Opposition has rejected moves by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, to initiate a review of the process in which Fianna Fáil election literature signed by the Taoiseach was sent in the diplomatic bag for general circulation to diplomats serving abroad.
The Fine Gael leader, Mr Enda Kenny, said the exercise was pointless with only four days remaining before polling and his Labour counterpart, Mr Pat Rabbitte, said the incident should be subject to an independent investigation by the Ombudsman, Ms Emily O'Reilly.
Mr Kenny said the initiation of a review was "an acknowledgement" that an abuse of power had already occurred. However, Mr Cowen rejected that point and said the review was an indication of his good intentions.
The affair smacked of "old-style Fianna Fáil stroke politics", Mr Kenny said. "We have seen a series of examples of this, from Minister Dempsey to Minister Fahey to polling cards with Fianna Fáil material stapled to them and now this. Presumably the PDs will have no bother swallowing this latest abuse."
Mr Rabbitte said the statement from Mr Cowen's Department was disturbing. "The only inference that can be drawn is that the Department was fully conscious of what they were doing when they allowed the diplomatic bag to be used to ferry election literature for Fianna Fáil and no other party," he said.
"The fact that the literature in question was from the Fianna Fáil politician who happens to be Taoiseach makes that decision all the more regrettable.
"Our democracy is in poor health if some senior person in the Department believes that they are expected to collude with the Fianna Fáil leader and then issue disclaimers that would be more appropriate from forgetful senior executives in AIB," Mr Rabbitte said.