The Fine Gael TD Mr Jim Mitchell yesterday accused the party's other European election candidate, Ms Mary Banotti MEP, of supporting policies "more akin to the Green Party than Fine Gael".
While he had a warm regard for Ms Banotti, he said, the policies she supported were very different from central Fine Gael policy.
Mr Mitchell said that while they were not "bosom buddies", an efficient vote-management arrangement between them could nevertheless deliver two European seats for the party.
He was speaking during a canvass in the city centre where a pair of roller-blades, a payphone and a large coloured sign were among the props employed to grab the attention of busy lunchtime shoppers.
He said he had "a warm regard" for Ms Banotti, but her views were very different in policy terms from his.
"She was against the NATO action, whereas I thought it was the lesser of two evils. She is not in favour of PfP, whereas I am in favour of the idea."
While the party had not carved up the Dublin constituency, Mr Mitchell said, it had sought to achieve greater co-ordination of its vote-management strategy in recent days.
He said he hoped Ms Banotti's supporters realised she would be elected comfortably and should give their first preferences to him instead.
"We need a better split of the vote," he said. "Despite the most recent poll in The Irish Times putting me on 8 per cent, our own tracking polls, also carried out by MRBI, have been giving me about 11 per cent," he said.
Mr Mitchell agreed it had proved difficult to engage the public in the elections so far. Most members of the public politely took a leaflet and continued on their way.
His predictably upbeat assessment about the election was shared by the Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, who was accompanying him on the canvass.
Mr Bruton told The Irish Times the Labour Party would also have some votes to spare and he hoped they might transfer to Mr Mitchell.
He said two recent opinion polls had not taken account of the turnout likely on polling day.
He believed two Fine Gael seats remained a strong possibility, with a normally healthy turnout by Fine Gael voters a significant advantage. He said there continued to be a problem with voter turnout among young people, which would affect all candidates.
Mr Mitchell said even though it was a European election, national issues, such as childcare and housing, kept coming up. He said the litter problem in Dublin was also "annoying natives and tourists in Dublin".
"Despite what the polls say about Fianna Fail, the sleaze factor and the brown paper bag syndrome have been coming up constantly," he added.
While he would rather be higher in newspaper polls, the 25 per cent of don't-knows in the two recent polls were a "source of eternal hope".
He added that because he had represented several Dublin constituencies over the years, he hoped a large number of Dublin voters would remember him.
"Many people have been saying to me that in my role as chairman of the Committee of Public Accounts I should stay in the Dail, but people should be aware that the problems of fraud and abuse of public money are an even bigger problem in Brussels," he said.
He said if he was elected to the European Parliament, he would decide at the next general election whether he should stay in the Dail or solely hold a seat in the European Parliament.