The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, has been accused of creating scapegoats in order to transfer blame for the damage his own Government has done to Partnership 2000, writes Denis Coghlan.
The Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, said Mr Ahern and his Progressive Democrats partners had done "far more damage to Partnership 2000 than any individual trade union or employer" because it had "deliberately and knowingly abandoned the income tax reform approach agreed between the social partners".
Referring to Mr Ahern's speech to the IMI conference in Tralee last Friday, in which he accused unnamed persons of destroying social partnership, the Fine Gael leader said: "The Taoiseach should be specific in his criticisms of unnamed employers and trade unions and not hide behind characteristic phrases like, `I think everyone knows who I mean.' That sort of public statement is an innuendo unworthy of a senior office-holder, because it denies those being obliquely identified of a right of reply."