Fine Gael has said that they believe that Labour has given up on engaging with the electorate on their own high tax strategy and have resorted to attacking Fine Gael.
The Fine Gael party has accused Labour leader Eamon Gilmore of being 'presumptuous and disrespectful to the electorate' by trying to negotiate a programme for Government before a vote has been cast.
A spokesperson for Fine Gael has said that they believe Mr Gilmore's comments were further evidence that Labour had given up on engaging with the electorate on their own high tax strategy and have resorted to attacking Fine Gael.
Earlier, Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny had described the Labour Party's plans for third level funding as 'preposterous'.
Hitting back at Labour's claims that Fine Gael would introduce a graduate tax, Enda Kenny said: 'If anybody in Ireland in 2011 thinks that third level be funded entirely free, that only means one thing and one thing only, exorbitant higher taxes.'
Enda Kenny told the media in Ballina, Co Mayo that Fine Gael was proposing a contribution be made by third level students to their education after they graduated and had entered the workplace.
Mr Kenny said he believed this to be entirely fair.
He claimed Labour continued to deflect attention from their own high tax strategy and have resorted to attacking Fine Gael.
The Fine Gael leader has also said that there would be 'no complacency' from the Fine Gael party or any of his candidates ahead of polling day on Friday saying 'this is the most important election in 50 years.'
Earlier, Labour leader Eamon Gilmore had said one precondition his party entering Government with Fine Gael would be that child benefit is not cut further.
Mr Gilmore also said that his party will not be bringing in or agreeing to a graduate tax if in Government.
He said it was one of the most unfair proposals as most students are having difficulty getting employment.
Mr Gilmore was speaking in Dun Laoghaire where he launched the party's new poster campaign, criticising Fine Gael's plans to make students pay towards their third level fees after they leave college.
The Labour party has said it is a graduate tax that would on average put students in debt of €12,000 at the beginning of their careers.
As the parties continue their campaigns over the last weekend of Election 2011, Fine Gael gave details of its plans to tackle social welfare fraud.
The party's Enterprise Spokesman Richard Bruton said a core objective of their 'Five Point Plan to Get Ireland Working' is to create a smaller, more efficient and better public sector.
He said that in the same way ‘that Fine Gael has declared 'all-out' war on white collar crime and rogue bankers, we will target welfare fraud and secure savings of €1 billion by year three of a new Government’.
Among the measures planned is the creation of a single Payments and Entitlements Service (PES) that will merge or rationalise the existing 20 Government bodies which process welfare payments to the public.
Meanwhile, party leader Enda Kenny will be in his native Mayo today, while Eamon Gilmore is campaigning in Dublin and Micheál Martin will be in Cork.
In Co Louth, members of the family of Jean McConville have described the decision by Gerry Adams to stand for a Dáil seat in the Louth constituency as ‘a slap in the face’.
Mrs McConville’s daughter Helen McKendry and her husband, Seamus, were speaking in Dundalk today where they called on people not to vote for the Sinn Féin President in next week's ´General Election.
They handed out ‘Anybody but Adams’ leaflets to shoppers and passers-by.
Mrs McConville, a mother of ten, was abducted and killed by the IRA in 1972. She was buried in an unmarked grave in Co Louth that was only discovered in 2003.
Mr Adams denies he was ever a member of the IRA.
Earlier, the group visited Templetown Beach in the Cooley Peninsula where the original search for Mrs McConville's body was concentrated.
