Taoiseach Brian Cowen has said the medical card controversy has affected his authority, but said that he hoped the solution put together over the weekend would meet with broader acceptance.
He was speaking in China where he is leading an Irish trade delegation and attending a summit of EU and Asian leaders.
Mr Cowen said he hoped the Government response would be seen as an example of leadership responding to an issue.
'And therefore one's authority, while its not as high as if you didn't have the problem, it does mean that people will say he used his authority to come up with a solution in double quick time that met with broader public acceptance', he said.
The debate on last week's Budget resumed in the Dáil this morning following the Government's seven vote win on medical cards last night.
This morning, Opposition deputies pressed the Government to resume its business on Tuesday next week and not Wednesday as is traditional following a bank holiday.
Labour leader Eamon Gilmore said he saw no justification for the Dáil not sitting on Tuesday as these were ‘not normal times’.
Fine Gael's Richard Bruton said the Dáil should sit an extra day as there was 'enormous convulsion'.
The issue was put to a vote and was lost 59 to 67.
Meanwhile, Opposition parties claimed there is no guarantee that the recently announced income thresholds for medical cards for the over-70s will be protected against inflation.
The Government has given a written assurance to Independent TD Michael Lowry that the thresholds will be reviewed annually to take account of inflation.
Labour leader Eamon Gilmore asked if this guarantee would be included in the social welfare bill.
Tánaiste Mary Coughlan said the commitment did not require legislation, but the Government had agreed the thresholds would be reviewed annually to take cost of living increases into account over the lifetime of the Government.
The Labour leader said this was not indexation, as reviewing the thresholds did not commit the Government to actually increase them.
Meanwhile, the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Mary Hanafin, is to meet with groups representing people with disabilities next week to discuss concerns over the age threshold for claiming disability allowance.
People with disabilites can currently claim €204 per week from age 16 onwards. From January this age limit will be raised to 18.
Those between 16 and 18 will now be reliant on their parents' Domiciliary Care Allowance of €299 per month, which is a cut of over €6,000 a year.
Farmers set to protest
More than 1,500 farmers have attended the first of a series of protests organised by the Irish Farmers' Association to protest at budget cuts that it says will have an extremely damaging impact on farming.
The IFA said 60,000 farmers face income cuts of up to 10%.
Speaking at the launch of the campaign in Claremorris, Co Mayo, IFA President Padraig Walshe warned that there would be a return to emigration unless the cutbacks were reversed.
It follows an emergency meeting of the IFA's executive council.
IFA President Padraig Walshe says there is mounting anger over cuts which he described as 'a totally unjustifiable attack on the farming sector'.
He singled out the cut in Disadvantaged Areas payments and the Suckler Welfare Scheme as being particularly unfair, saying the cuts contravene Government commitments to protecting the weakest groups in society.
The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association echoed these concerns.
