The Fine Gael deputy leader, Mr Jim Mitchell, strongly criticised the Taoiseach, accusing him of having no proper priorities or proper standards.
He said the foot-and-mouth crisis highlighted the Government's ineptitude.
"And it must be said that ineptitude is the consistent hallmark of the Government right across most fields of endeavour", he added.
Attacking Mr Ahern, he said: "He is, at once, exhausting himself, while at the same time devaluing the prestige of his high office by making himself available for the official opening of every envelope."
He accused Mr Ahern of having no proper standards. If he had, he would not have appointed Mr Ray Burke, "who had attended the opening of many an envelope," as minister for foreign affairs.
"Mr Ahern has never adequately explained this appointment. Nor has Mr Ahern ever explained the incredible appointment of Liam Lawlor to the committee of members' interests, the purpose of which is to uphold ethics in the Oireachtas."
The Taoiseach had shown an extraordinary attitude in appointing people to positions in which they were compromised.
There was an attempt to disguise the fact that political sleaze was overwhelmingly a Fianna Fail problem, Mr Mitchell said. Politics was now held in incredibly low esteem, principally because Fianna Fail was in power for far too long. The Fine Gael director of organisation, Mr Phil Hogan TD, claimed that Fianna Fail's fate was sealed.
"At present, it is just a case of trying to avoid as many of those icebergs as possible, particularly those called Moriarty and Flood," he said. "As soon as they hit one of those icebergs, the better for the people of this country, because they do not deserve a Government which has to continuously look over its shoulder."
Mr Hogan predicted that Mr Ahern "will drag on as long as he can", adding that the Taoiseach never took action on any issue until it was unavoidable or inevitable.
He said the PD leader, Ms Harney, and her party would have to take their chances in "political high seas", hoping that some new government would provide a political liferaft for the party which she had "helped to found and destroy, which is a rare distinction in Irish politics".
All those factors boded well for Fine Gael, Mr Hogan said. The party was ready to provide stable government for five years, without looking over its shoulder at the constant danger of scandals and tribunal revelations.
