Martin McGuinness has accused Micheál Martin of playing politics in asking whether Gerry Adams was ever a member of the IRA.
The North's Deputy First Minister accused the Fianna Fáil leader of attempting "to try and win back the ground the party has lost to Sinn Féin".
Mr McGuinness said he did not talk about who was, or was not, in the IRA.
"The people spoke very eloquently in the Donegal South-West byelection when huge numbers of Fianna Fáil voters came over and voted for our candidate, Pearse Doherty,'' he added.
Mr McGuinness was speaking in Tallaght, Dublin, where he launched a job creation plan for Dublin with the party's Dublin South West candidate Sean Crowe.
Mr Crowe said the plan would create close on 100,000 jobs this year.
"Along with supporting Dublin businesses and entrepreneurs, we must invest in infrastructure such as hospitals, schools and public transport," said Mr Crowe.
"We must complete the regeneration schemes around the city while investing in community facilities that would create jobs with social benefits for local areas."
