Fianna Fáil leader Micheal Martin has accused Opposition parties of attempting to "deliberately mislead" voters about what changes to the IMF-EU bailout deal can be achieved.
Mr Martin said Ireland had to engage in a "respectful way" with colleagues in Europe.
“The IMF-EU deal gives Ireland the space to put its house in order. That deal is based on measures which must be implemented irrespective of who we borrow from or what the terms are,” Mr Martin said.
“Parties are acting as if they can bang the table, shout a bit and remove the need for tough action. There have been empty photo-opportunities and angry speeches, but these are all about the election and nothing about Ireland's future.”
He said changing the terms of the deal required building consensus rather than causing conflict.
He said it was now clear a restructuring facility could be achieved, although nothing was final. "It won't happen by someone saying it's our way or Frankfurt's way. It ain't gonna happen that way."
His comments follow a statement yesterday from Labour leader Eamon Gilmore that the public had a choice between "Frankfurt's way or Labour's way".
Mr Gilmore today claimed European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet is a civil servant who will go along with any renegotiation of the deal.
"He's a very important European civil servant and any civil servant will of course always stick to the plan that is there at the moment, just as he will stick to the plan that is renegotiated when it is renegotiated," Mr Gilmore told RTÉ.
Meanwhile, Labour education spokesman Ruairi Quinn said today a Labour government would not unilaterally tear up the EU-IMF deal. While admitting some parts of it are non-negotiable, he insisted elements of the bailout package could be changed and a Government with new personalities and a new mandate could bring this to the negotiating table in Europe.
"We are not saying that unilaterally we are going back to tear up the deal because some parts of the deal are non negotiable," Mr Quinn told a Dublin press conference today.
Asked about the strident comment from his party leader, Mr Quinn said this type of rhetoric had to be seen as "part and parcel of an election campaign".
But he said some changes were possible in the EU-IMF deal, which was too heavy a burden for the country to bear. He said Ireland's EU partners would respect a new Government's move to renegotiate the deal because of the country's long term and positive engagement with the Union.
According to the latest Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI poll, there is an expectation among voters that a new government will be able to renegotiate the EU-IMF bailout. Some 49 per cent thought it would be possible to renegotiate the deal while 39 per cent thought not.