The Green Party leader John Gormley has insisted that the Government is "stable" despite the controversy surrounding the interview the Taoiseach Brian Cowen gave to RTE's Morning Ireland earlier this week.
Mr Gormley also said the was "no vacancy" for the role of Taoiseach. "I don't believe there's instability in government, I believe the Government is stable," the Minister for the Environment said.
"There's no vacancy," he said, in response to speculation about the future of Mr Cowen. "Anything else is simply speculation.”
His comments were echoed by the Minister for Enterprise Trade and Innovation Batt O’Keefe who said this morning he expected Mr Cowen to lead Fianna Fáil into the next general election.
Mr O'Keefe, a long time ally of the Taoiseach, said he did not believe a heave was underway way or that the Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan was interested in becoming Taoiseach' at the present time.
He claimed that Mr Cowen retained the confidence of his Cabinet colleagues.
On Friday Mr Cowen promised to be more cautious in his social life in the wake of the controversy. “I think such is the atmosphere of politics today perhaps, and the way people interpret things and how things can go off on a tangent very quickly, I would be a bit more cautious in terms of that aspect of how I conduct my social life,” he said.
However Mr Cowen dismissed suggestions that his leadership of Fianna Fáil was under threat saying his TDs knew they had a job to do and would get on with it.
"We have a duty as a party that has a majority in the house with Green support and with the support of Independents to continue with that parliamentary party majority to implement those decisions," he added.
Also on Friday, the Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin refused to be drawn on the question of Mr Cowen's leadership but conceded that the affair had been damaging to the Government. "I think we have to really organise ourselves in a way that matches the mood of the people," he said.
Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan said the issue was now over, in his view.