“I would have thought at this stage that Fianna Fáil would have learned from the mistakes of the past, which have thrown our economy and our country into turmoil,” Ms McEntee said.

Speaking in Drogheda, Mr Martin categorically rejected Ms McEntee’s claims, saying the figures provided in the document came from the Department of Finance.

“I was surprised, very critical,” Mr. Martin said of Ms. McEntee’s comments.

“Obviously I hadn’t read the manifesto… It was very broad and I was surprised by the tone but it was simply inaccurate.

“I would just say to the people at Fine Gael headquarters that they need to calm down a bit.”

The Tánaiste said he wanted to continue the campaign with “thoughtful remarks” while accusing other political parties of making “shallow and knee-jerk responses” to the Fianna Fáil manifesto.

Asked if this meant Taoiseach Simon Harris was being superficial, Mr Martin said: “It’s not about personalities, it’s about the substance of the criticism.

“I say Fine Gael’s response is superficial because it is clear they have not read the document.”

Mr Martin referred to a Sunday Times report that Fine Gael headquarters was preparing dossiers on Fianna Fáil social media.

“I mean, relax, calm down and let’s get back to the bottom of it,” he added.

The Tánaiste added that his party wants to take on the Justice portfolio in the next government, saying senior party officials have done a lot of work on the subject.

The party also proposes the creation of a new Interior Ministry, which would work “more coherently” on migration issues and also deal with national security and intelligence.

Meanwhile, Mr Martin insisted that reinstating borough and town councils must be on the agenda of a future government, saying it “has to happen”.

Mr Martin said he wanted to see it introduced in 2020, but other parties did not accept it during government negotiations.

“I’m going to go out there this time and say, look, this is part of our program. This has to happen because all over the country you meet people who say ‘what a shame we lost our city council or our urban council,'” Mr Martin said.

“These people were community members, providing a vision for their locality and understanding what their area needed.

“It was also a very fundamental exercise in local democracy and it was a real shame (that they were abolished). Brendan Howlin at the time, who was involved, later admitted it was a mistake to do so.

“I think Drogheda in particular is a good example of that.”