Civil servants who perform poorly will be penalised with cash fines, demotions and pay cuts, the Taoiseach said yesterday.
Days after Mr Ahern made his second demand in nine weeks for loyalty from TDs and senators, he told party activists that "difficult times" were the test of real leadership.
Meanwhile, the Minister for the Environment, Mr Cullen, told Fianna Fáil members that he planned to introduce proposals supporting one-off rural housing.
At meetings in Dublin and Co Louth, Mr Ahern said the Government was preparing legislation that would enable it to punish civil servants who "seriously" underperformed in their jobs.
He insisted the benchmarking pay awards would be delivered only in return for verifiable improvement in public sector productivity. In an implicit reference to unions at Aer Rianta, who have threatened strike action over plans to break up the company, he said: "We have a guarantee of industrial peace right across the public service. Industrial action will lead to non-payment of the increases."
The legislation will allow the Government to extend the scope of the Unfair Dismissals Acts to cover civil servants; reduce pay and rank in serious cases of underperformance; and broaden the range of disciplinary sanctions to include cash fines.
Party members said Mr Cullen told a meeting in Salthill that he would propose the sanctioning of one-off housing in certain circumstances "in the next few weeks".