Opposition deputies criticised the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, following his revelation that he sometimes ignores his officials' advice and the consensus view when making decisions.

"I have recently referred to the tyranny of consensus as an approach to dealing with matters, as if it is the role of ministers merely to reflect the views of lobby groups and others and put them into effect or to debate matters for weeks, months and years on end before arriving at a consensus which is then implemented."

He said while that was effective in some areas, in many others it was a recipe for making no decision or making one which was an amalgam of the lowest common denominator of all the different opposing groups.

"If I had that approach, many measures I have taken would not have been introduced. For example, had I waited to achieve consensus about tax credits, they would not have been introduced in this Budget, or in any foreseeable one. "Similarly with my proposals on pensions and the betting tax. Nor did my officials recommend the changes I introduced to the capital gains tax last year. However, decisions such as these are political, to be taken by the minister and the government of the day. If one looks at the decisions I have taken as Minister, it will be apparent that in many respects I did not wait for consensus, nor do I intend to."

Mr McCreevy, who was speaking during the report stage debate on the Finance Bill, said Opposition deputies and others held the view that the only way to proceed was by reflecting the views of one group or another. "While I am probably in a minority in the House on this issue, I do not subscribe to that method of decision-making and there is no point in people fooling themselves otherwise."

The Fine Gael spokesman on finance, Mr Michael Noonan, said the Minister prided himself in taking a separate stance from the advice he got from his Department.

"It has never been the tradition of this House for ministers to distinguish between themselves and their department on policy issues. It has never been the practice for ministers to say in this House that their officials want me to do the opposite, but I am a hard man and I did not go along with them. That is not the way to run the shop."

Mr Noonan said Mr McCreevy should come out with Government policy, having been advised by his officials. "The macho approach the Minister is taking is: I am in touch with the ordinary people, and my officials, who have not seen the light of day in years, are not. The Minister should not proceed along those lines. If he believes that, he should keep those views to himself."

The Labour spokesman on finance, Mr Derek McDowell, also criticised the Minister.

The Finance Bill, which puts in place the measures outlined by the Minister in the budget, passed all stages by 71 votes to 64 late last night.

The Fianna Fail deputy for Mayo, Ms Beverly Cooper-Flynn, voted with the Government on the Bill along with the independents TDs who have an arrangement with the Government.

The Bill now goes to the Seanad but the Upper House cannot make any amendments to the legislation because it deals with finance.