Fianna Fáil have tonight played down growing speculation of an early election but warned that trust has been damaged in the wake of the Máire Whelan controversy.
Spokesperson Michael McGrath said the party had used up ’a lot’ of its patience with Fine Gael but said now was not the time for them to force a general election.
Deputy McGrath did say, however, that situations like these cannot keep occurring
"We intend to honor the commitment we made but equally we expect Fine Gael to honour their side of the bargain as well and so far where their have been lapses they have been on the Fine Gael side ...
"There is only a certain amount of patience available. We have used a lot of it. We are committed to the agreement but we can’t have more incidences like we had this week."