The Progressive Democrat Minister of State for Finance, Mr Tom Parlon, has said the party should be prepared for the possibility that the Government might not last its full five year term.
He is the second leading member of the Progressive Democrats to indicate in recent weeks that there could be an early election.
Last week it emerged that the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, had told his party's general council that there might be an election in 2006. Speaking yesterday, Mr Parlon said Mr McDowell was trying to advise the party to be prepared in case there was an early election.
He said the last government ran its full five year term but this was rare in Irish politics. The Government could take a strategic decision to go early."It would be silly for the party to be caught napping," he added.
Mr Parlon also said it was a matter for the Tánaiste, Ms Harney, as to whether he remained as a minister after the forthcoming reshuffle.
The Progressive Democrats are likely to retain two senior and two junior ministers after the reshuffle. However there has been speculation that the former minister of state, Ms Liz O'Donnell, who opted out of serving in government after the general election in 2002, may be prepared to take office again.
Mr Parlon was speaking at the official handing over of the new €60 million State laboratory at Backweston in Co Kildare. The new laboratory was commissioned as part of a Government plan to redevelop its existing location at Abbotstown in north Dublin which was the site earmarked at the time for the Campus Stadium Ireland project.
Mr Parlon denied the expenditure on the new laboratory facilities had been wasted given that the national stadium development had been cancelled.
He said that the buildings at Abbotstown were out of date. "This new state-of-the-art laboratory is a magnificent addition to the State infrastructure which will provide a wonderful working environment for the staff moving here and a huge improvement on the facilities that were available in Abbotstown," he said.
The laboratory provides analytical and advisory services to all Government departments.
Among the services provided are analysis of the alcohol content of drinks which determines excise duty rates for the Revenue Commissioners. It also provides carbon dating services for archeological finds. A new facility housing the State agriculture laboratories is currently being constructed on an adjacent site and will be opened next year.
The Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, to whom the new State laboratory was officially handed over by the Office of Public Works, said chemical and analytical developments had advanced greatly since the existing State laboratories at Abbotstown were built in the 1980s.
