The Tánaiste Ms Mary Harney today bet €20 that she and her party would return to coalition power at the General Election.
Ms Harney pledged to give all her winnings to charity, but with odds of just 2/1 at Paddy Power bookmakers the payout would hardly be overwhelming.
Ms Harney placed her bet soon after President McAleese announced the dissolution of the Dáil this morning.
She also made a political gamble, predicting that her party would double its number of seats to eight at the May 17th poll.
She promised a "robust" campaign saying: "The challenge for the next five years is to keep taxes low, to keep jobs coming. The question for voters is 'which party in Government can best ensure this?'. I believe the answer is the Progressive Democrats.
"The general public will look to our record of achievement over the past five years when deciding who they want in Government for the next five years."
She said the Progressive Democrats had an "enviable record" in the last Government.
"We created 380,000 jobs, we ended mass unemployment and forced emigration. Our taxreforming policies put more money back into the pockets of workers and we also gave unprecedented increases to pensioners and to those on child benefit.
"That is what I call real achievements and I think these will stand up on polling day."
Earlier, speaking at Government Buildings in Dublin, Mr Ahern gave a strong endorsement to the Progressive Democrats, signaling his willingness to re-enter a coalition with the party.
He said that Fianna Fáil could not secure a majority, and brushed aside an ongoing row between himself and Ms Harney over the building of a new national stadium in Dublin.
He said: "We could not expect to agree on everything and we have not. But this has been a constructive partnership Government and we are grateful for their contributions to an unprecedented term of peace, prosperity and progress."
PA
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