The Government has walked on 'every banana skin that awaited them' since taking office, according to political commentator Michael O'Regan.
He said no government has gotten off to a bad start to the extent the Fianna Fáil / Fine Gael / Green coalition has.
It has now been just over a month since the new government was sworn in.
However, the coalition has found itself battling a series of controversies.
Barry Cowen was sacked as minister after only a few weeks in office, while there has been intense scrutiny of the new government's spending decisions in recent days.
Just this evening, Green Party TD Neasa Hourigan resigned as the party whip and voted against the Government several times on a bill about renters.
As the current Dáil term ends today, Mr O'Regan told The Hard Shoulder the first weeks of the Government have been 'quite astonishing'.
He said: "A lot of governments have got off to a bad start in the past - it mainly seems to surround the perks of office.
"In this instance, it's quite incredible the gaffes. Every banana skin that awaited them, they walked on it. It's been a story of Mercs, perks, pay, advisers, incompetence, Dáil votes lost... it doesn't look good.
"A lot of it is self-inflicted, some of it bad luck.
"You've had u-turns and right turns and all that kind of thing... it really is appalling."
He said the initial rows over ministerial appointments 'didn't look too good to the broader public'.
He also highlighted the row-back on the pandemic unemployment payment being stopped for those travelling to green list countries.
Mr O'Regan said that controversy perhaps created a public perception that it was a more vulnerable section of society that was being targeted.
He suggested that Micheál Martin is at its heart 'a left of centre' politician, but it was 'astonishing' that ministers and their advisers didn't recognise the damage that would be done by the PUP decision.
He suggested: "If it just happened as an individual case, as one incidence of a Government gaffe... that might be acceptable.
"But it has come on top of so much else."
