The Minister for Foreign Affairs has accused Fine Gael of trying to "blacken" the Taoiseach by preventing him speaking in the European Parliament. Dermot Ahern said the main Opposition party had learned nothing from the recent payments controversy.
"Have they not learned from the recent episode that they shouldn't be going for the man? They should just oppose us on issues of policy and not of personality,"he said.
"They didn't know that it would get out and they've been found out for being nasty and petty and I think unpatriotic. We would not do it if the shoe was on the other foot," he added.
Mr Ahern called on the Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny, to clarify the matter. "Did Deputy Kenny support the attempt by the Fine Gael group in the European Parliament to have An Taoiseach's invite rescinded?
"What was his specific role in the attempt? Did he instigate it? Did he support it? Does he now regret it?"
A Fine Gael spokesman said last night that Enda Kenny had no knowledge of the matter.
"He has no objections to the Taoiseach discussing the European constitution with the European Parliament and he looks forward to regular reports and debates in the Dáil on the constitution and other European matters," said the spokesman.
The Taoiseach was one of seven European leaders invited before the European Parliament to outline his views on ratification of the EU constitution. While most of them declined the invitation, the Taoiseach agreed to speak on November 29th.
Mr Ahern said the invitation was an honour to Ireland and to the office of the Taoiseach.
"The leadership role of our Taoiseach in negotiating the European constitution is recognised across the continent . . .
"The Irish people are justly proud of our national achievements in all fields on the world stage and do not take kindly to any efforts to hinder our national influence abroad," he said.
Mr Ahern added that Irish people of all political persuasions were proud to see national figures such as Pat Cox and John Bruton perform internationally. Equally, the quality of our cross-party European convention team in negotiating the European constitution was a source of great pride.
"On its surface, this affair looks like a crass act of political desperation by the Fine Gael party. The Irish people expect more on the international stage," he said.
Fianna Fáil MEP Eoin Ryan said the efforts made by the Fine Gael group in Europe to withdraw the invitation accepted by the Taoiseach to address the European Parliament had failed.
"The Fine Gael group in the European Parliament proposed late last week that this invitation to An Taoiseach Bertie Ahern be withdrawn because it was giving the Taoiseach an international forum in advance of the Irish general election," Mr Ryan said.
The proposal by the Fine Gael group in Europe had been rejected by the six other political groups in the parliament which included members from the Irish Labour Party, Sinn Féin, Independent members as well as Fianna Fáil.
"Put simply, Fine Gael sought to embarrass the Taoiseach on the international stage. If it had succeeded, it would have done a lot of damage to Ireland's international reputation," Mr Ryan said.
"We have always sought to promote Irish people to high positions in the international arena."