Politicians have been told to stop investigating the spending of President Michael D Higgins by the Fianna Fáil leader.
Micheál Martin says the Public Accounts Committee shouldn't be looking into the issue so close to an election.
There's been concerns from senior government officials that the investigation is politically motivated to target President Higgins.
The Department of the Taoiseach, sent a letter to the PAC, warning that any move to do so could be 'unconstitutional.'
At a meeting of PAC this morning, members were critical of the governments decision to block plans for a public investigation into expenditure at the President's Office.
Sinn Fein's David Cullinane says that the letter was over the top and defensive but any discussion will have to be framed in the right context.
Deputy Martin agrees that the President's spending shouldn't be looked at now:
"I do think it's interesting that it's seven years on that they're beginning to look at accounts, I think given that we're now in the middle of an election they should desist. If people want the presidency to be treated the same as any government position, let's look at that outside of an election context"
