The Government has won a motion of confidence in the Dáil debate by a comfortable margin of six votes this evening.
The Government today responded to Fine Gael plans for a motion of no confidence by putting down its own confidence motion.
The final vote was 85 in favour of the motion and 79 against it.
Fine Gael proposed a motion of no confidence in the Government following the elections on Friday.
The debate commenced in the Dáil yesterday and was adjourned at 8.30pm last night.
Government Ministers today continued to defend their record in the face of Opposition criticism across the floor.
Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern this afternoon accused the Opposition parties of "very shallow and untenable strategies" and challenged them to outline their own proposals to make savings to rescue the economy without increasing taxes.
Mr Ahern said Ireland still had the highest standard of living in the EU despite recent cutbacks.
"One third of all homes built since the foundation of the State were built in the last 10 years," he said.
Ireland also continued to spend twice the average on infrastructure in areas of schools, road and rail and in other areas.
He defended his own record on reform of the prisons and the criminal justice system and said that every time he went to open a new Garda station, TDs from the Opposition parties were present to "take the credit".
Fine Gael TD Brian Hayes said people around the country were "laughing" at the Government and he accused the Minister for Justice and the Government of "arrogance".
He said Taoiseach Brian Cowen was a "two-time loser" based on the result in last June's Lisbon Treaty referendum and last Friday's local and European Parliament elections.
"You just don't get it, Minister. The public will not be ruled by you much longer."
He said the Government had presided over a decade of "waste" and "soft option" politics, led by former taoiseach Bertie Ahern.
Newly elected Fine Gael TD for Dublin South, George Lee, said during the resumed debate today that the Government now had no mandate from the people.
“Nobody was given a mandate for Government. Not by the people," he said.
Mr Lee said the the mandate claimed by the Government was based on "an arrangement with other people in this House".
“They have an agreement to govern. Not a mandate to govern. And the agreement is based on false premises.”
“The mandate this government claims they have is not real.”
He said the Government had failed to keep promises on taxes and PRSI levies and that the programme for government agreed after the 2007 general election weas based on "fair weather financial circumstances".
Mr Lee also criticised the Government for failing to focus on people who were unemployed and "locked out" of the labour market.
He noted the actual cost per week of keeping an individual on the live register was about €336 - more than €100 above the actual payment made under the jobseeker's benefit scheme.
“Why waste so much money locking people out of the labour market and locking them out of our economy?" he said.
Later, however, he was criticised by Fianna Fáil deputy Michael Kennedy, who said Mr Lee had spoken for "twenty minutes and he had...not one idea, not one solution as to how we get out of the situation".
"If he has the experience as an economist - and I have no doubt he has - let him come up with the solution as to how we resolve our difficulties."
Minister of State John Curran told the House this morning it had been said that the current economic situation "could and should have been foreseen".
But he said that just two years ago, the Opposition's policy manifestos for the general election had made no mention and had no foresight of the downturn.
“Your policy documents, similar to many others, were showing growth of 4 per cent," he said.
"It’s easy to stand here with hindsight and say ‘yes we saw it’."
He accused the Opposition parties of “spin and a load of rubbish”.
"The Government acted in a timely fashion, on numerous occasions, to make sure the finances of the State were in check. Not because we got it wrong but in a responsive way to a changing situation.”
“The Opposition have been absolutely lacking and dishonest in what they say they would do.”
Last night the Fine Gael leader said that almost three-quarters of the Irish people, by their decision last Friday, had "cast a verdict of no confidence in the Taoiseach and his Government to sort out the problems of the country".
"It was an historic day in many ways because it broke the dominance of the Fianna Fáil party in Irish politics for the first time in 77 years,” Mr Kenny said.
The Government is expected to table its own counter motion following the debate and a vote will be taken this evening.