Minister Paschal Donohoe has agreed to take part in a TV debate after being accused of “chickening out” by Sinn Fein’s finance spokesman Pearse Doherty.
It follows Mr Doherty telling reporters that he had heard Mr Donohoe would no longer be taking part in the debate after initially agreeing to the appearance.
Mr Doherty said: “He has chickened out.
“I would call on Paschal Donohoe to meet me and debate how he has failed the Irish people over and over again on the issues of the cost of living.
“Turn up to tonight’s debate. It is not acceptable that you have now chickened out twice on this issue.”
Pearse Doherty accused Paschal Donohoe of ‘chickening out’ (Liam McBurney/PA)
When first asked if Mr Donohoe had dropped out of the show, a spokeswoman for the Fine Gael minister said he had taken part in a number of other debates during the campaign.
The spokeswoman said the minister had taken on “Sinn Fein in terms of the damage that party would inflict on our economy if in power” and would take part in another debate and any other opportunity in the coming days.
Fine Gael later confirmed that Mr Donohoe would take part in the Tonight Show debate as originally planned on Tuesday night, after rectifying a scheduling issue on the minister’s part.
Mr Donohoe and Mr Doherty are also due to take part in a debate on RTE’s Claire Byrne radio programme on Wednesday morning.
The Sinn Fein representative also accused Fine Gael of having a “brass neck”.
He pointed to a representative of Fine Gael leader Simon Harris contacting national broadcaster RTE over a video clip of him walking away from an interaction with a carer.
Mr Doherty said: “I think it would be really important now, given the enormity of this, I think it was watched eight million times, that Fine Gael actually clarifies what were they leaning on RTE to try and achieve?
“Were they trying to make sure that the package wasn’t aired?
“I think that the conversation should now be made public by Fine Gael.”
He added: “When it comes to Fine Gael, they’ve got a brass neck.”