TÁNAISTE BRIAN Cowen has insisted that Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's leadership is not in question, and that he has the confidence of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party, during bitter Dáil exchanges yesterday.
However, Mr Cowen was strongly attacked by Fine Gael leader, Enda Kenny, who said he was "now a willing accomplice in Mr Ahern's deceit" before the Mahon tribunal.
Clearly irked by Mr Kenny's tone, Mr Cowen criticised the Fine Gael leader for repeatedly unfairly targeting Mr Ahern "every day, every week".
Repeatedly describing Mr Kenny as "this gentleman", Mr Cowen said that Mr Ahern was entitled to "a fair hearing", and that everyone should await the tribunal's final report.
"While [Mr Ahern] holds the leadership of this party and enjoys the confidence of the House and this party, he will lead this party," he told the Dáil, which was poorly attended by Fianna Fáil TDs at the time.
The sharp personal nature to the exchanges between Mr Cowen and Mr Kenny was striking, even allowing for the fact that Mr Kenny had given advance notice that he would seek to target Mr Cowen.
Over a 30-minute debate, Mr Cowen only became truly animated when he attacked Fine Gael over its 1990s tax problems, rather than during his first efforts at defending Mr Ahern.
However, he became more forceful in his support for Mr Ahern as the exchanges went on.
"I do not need lectures from Deputy Kenny on my standards," he said.
"My standards relate to fair play and the hearing of the evidence. They certainly do not relate to people being guilty before being proven innocent," he went on.
Strikingly, too, Mr Cowen reserved all of his ire for the Fine Gael leader, rather than the Labour Party leader, Eamon Gilmore, who equally avoided any personal attacks upon him.
Dismissing Mr Gilmore's suggestion that the Government could not function, the Tánaiste said it "is functioning in making its decisions and will continue to do so under the Taoiseach's leadership".
The Tánaiste will fill in for the Taoiseach, who is on official business in Slovenia and Poland, this week during Leader's Questions again this morning.
He rejected Mr Kenny and Mr Gilmore's assertion that he, as the man most likely to become the next leader of Fianna Fáil, should tell Mr Ahern that it was time to go.
"There are no designated successors in this or any other party. The Taoiseach candidly revealed his personal preference [after the general election], but he said that it was a matter for everyone in this party to decide the next leader. I will not make any such presumption on the identity of the next leader," he told the House.
The Fine Gael leader repeatedly compared Mr Ahern to former taoiseach, Charles J Haughey: "That is the standard. It is now perfectly obvious that what happened in the Haughey era is being replicated in the Ahern era. The sins of the master are replicated by the pupil," he told the Dáil.
Continuing the focus on Mr Cowen last night, Mr Kenny said his "pathetic" replies made "him a willing accomplice to the deceit that is going on in Dublin Castle".
Mr Cowen's defence, "delivered in a half-hearted and formulaic manner suggests he is determined to put loyalty to his own political ambitions ahead of any sense of loyalty to the public he has been elected to serve", said the Fine Gael leader.
Mr Kenny said it was now "fact" that Mr Ahern had not paid taxes, "misappropriated" Fianna Fáil money "for private use", and accepted large sums of money from unknown quarters.
"This is history repeating itself. The Haughey era followed by the Ahern era, and now endorsed and supported by Brian Cowen," said the Fine Gael leader.
