Fine Gael has escalated its political attack on Sinn Féin as Minister for Finance Michael Noonan accused Gerry Adams of dishonesty on his party’s tax policies.

Mr Adams on Sunday said the next election would give people a choice between the politics of austerity and politics on behalf of the citizen.

He said that despite the claims of Mr Noonan and Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Sinn Féin in government would put money back in the pockets of ordinary workers if in government.

Asked on RTÉ Radio One's This Week about those earning between €32,800 and €70,000 (who pay the top rate of tax), he said there would be neither a reduction nor increase in taxes for that cohort. Mr Adams said the party proposed to levy a new 48 per cent tax rate on those earning over €100,000.

Mr Noonan responded by saying the interview showed Sinn Féin was a “tax and spend party”.

“He was also dishonest in his replies, when he pretended that Sinn Féin would leave the tax position of workers earning between €32,800 and €70,000 as it is,” Mr Noonan said.

“During the debate on the Finance Bill,” he said, “Sinn Féin voted against the reduction of the 41 per cent higher tax rate to 40 per cent, which is the tax rate that most affects this group.

“In their alternative budget issued just before Budget 2015, Sinn Féin proposed €1.7 billion of tax increases in total. This contrasts with the budget, which reduced taxes by €650 million,” said Mr Noonan in a statement on Sunday.

Both Coalition parties have continued to deny there will be a general election in 2015. But there has been a recent flurry of political and partisan claims, involving all the major parties, that would normally be associated only with a general election campaign.

The row was sparked by comments by the Taoiseach in the Isle of Man on Friday. He said the choice faced by the electorate at the next election would be between a coalition headed by Fine Gael and one led by Sinn Féin.

The spate of deliberate and focused criticisms from Fine Gael has prompted strong responses, not only from Sinn Féin but also from Fianna Fáil and Labour.

Arrogance

During his address at his party’s annual Éamon de Valera commemoration in Ennis, Co Clare on Friday, Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin accused the Taoiseach of arrogance in reducing the next election to a choice between Fine Gael and Sinn Féin.

“The public has lost faith in his Government – it is not within his gift to try and define the outcome of the next general election.

“Instead of empty grandstanding in the Dáil or delivering unwanted election speeches, the people have a right to expect that their representatives are working to address the difficulties facing the country,” he said.

Alex White, the Labour Party Minister for Communications, said it was “presumptuous” of Mr Kenny to reduce it to a personality contest between two parties.

“Labour will be at the heart and central to the formation of the next government,” he said, adding that the election would not take place until 2016.

The timing of the attack was being viewed as an effort by Fine Gael to repair its hand in the debate on taxes following the sustained criticism of the Coalition over its water charge plans.