The Taoiseach said this weekend he would welcome a voting arrangement between Fianna Fail and the Progressive Democrats to help the Government win the forthcoming Cork South Central by-election.
Canvassing in Cork at the weekend with the party's candidate, Ms Sinead Behan, Mr Ahern said he would welcome any such arrangement if the local Fianna Fail organisation favoured it as a means of helping the party win the seat.
The Progressive Democrats candidate, Mr Peter Kelly, has already argued for a voting alliance but one which would split the vote so that both he and Ms Behan would be well placed after the first count to ensure a Government candidate won the seat.
Mr Ahern said he had asked PD voters to transfer to Fianna Fail and Fianna Fail voters to transfer to the PDs in both the Dublin North and Limerick East byelections.
But he accepted that the loose arrangement was insufficient to help the party win either.
He pointed out that in Limerick East the local party organisation had been strongly opposed to any formal pact with the Progressive Democrats.
Mr Ahern rejected comments by the Labour leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, that giving Fianna Fail four out of five seats in Cork South Central would make for a return to an arrogant Fianna Fail.
"That sounds like an arrogant comment to me," said Mr Ahern.
Meanwhile, the Labour candidate, Mr Toddy O'Sullivan, said the gap between rich and poor was widening because of current Government policies. The Sinn Fein candidate, Mr Henry Cremin, identified housing, jobs and the environment, particularly in the Cork Harbour area, as the main issues in his campaign.