Gerry Adams has said the Taoiseach Enda Kenny "made an eejit of himself" with the "tomfoolery" over his comments about the army potentially being called on to protect banks.

The Sinn Féin president said that "all of this tomfoolery, getting carried away with himself, making an eejit of himself, shows the need for practical based, people-centered politics".

Mr Adams said the Taoiseach, who he called "a spoof", must clarify his comments.

"He’s a spoof, that’s the problem. If these matters are untrue then he needs to clarify that," he said.

Mr Kenny had earlier today declined to clarify if the potential use of the army to protect banks in Ireland was ever discussed.

"The issue of security in terms of banks - if the currency was to collapse what would you do?" he said.

"Would you have a reversion to another Irish currency or whatever - and clearly that was a matter of very major importance, not just for Ireland but for other countries".

"All of the issues surrounding security on banks was raised as part of that general discussion" he added.

But Mr Adams says the Taoiseach got "carried away with himself".

The Taoiseach has faced numerous questions regarding comments he made last week in Madrid in which he stated that the governor of the Central Bank, Professor Patrick Honohan, warned it may be necessary to deploy soldiers to protect banks. However yesterday Mr Kenny said there was no "specific" mention of such measures in discussions with Mr Honhan.

While speaking at the European People's Party conference in Madrid last week, when addressing Fine Gael's European partner parties, Mr Kenny said that Mr Honohan had told him: "It looks like this weekend...you’ll have to put the army around the banks and around the ATM machines, and introduce capital controls like they had in Cyprus”.

Yesterday, when asked to clarify his claims, the Taoiseach said: "These were matters that were being discussed and the government did set up a task force comprised of a number of departments and agencies, of which the department of finance, the (Department of the) Taoiseach (and) the Central Bank were all involved".

"They considered all of these contingencies and clearly the question of security in the event of a breakup of the euro currency was one that was considered," he added.

When asked if he had received a specific briefing from Mr Honohan on protecting the banks with the army, Mr Kenny said: "No. Not specific, no".