The Taoiseach has dismissed claims by the government's own budget watchdog, which says last month's budget was a "missed opportunity" to fix the public finances.
The Fiscal Advisory Council says the national debt will now be €10 billion higher in 2018, because the government dropped its most recent plans for austerity.
But Enda Kenny says it's the government - and the government alone - that has to make the hard choices.
And another cabinet minister has hinted that the government had one eye on the opinion polls - saying the coalition was running "not only an economy," but also "a society".
Our political correspondent Gavan Reilly filed this report for Today FM's National Lunchtime News:
