ROME, (Reuters) – Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi,  after months of dismissing accusations of cavorting with  teenagers and prostitutes, yesterday acknowledged he was “no  saint” but vowed to govern until the end of his mandate.

In his first public remarks since newspapers posted audio  recordings of intimate conversations purportedly between him and  an escort, a defiant Berlusconi sought to write off the scandal  with one of his trademark quips.

“There are tonnes of good-looking girls and entrepreneurs  out there,” he said at the opening ceremony for a new motorway  building site.

“I am not a saint, you’ve all understood that. I hope those  at La Repubblica also understand it,” he said, referring to the  left-leaning daily which has led demands that he clear up  aspects of his personal life.

Speaking of new public works to be inaugurated in 2013 —  when his mandate ends — he said: “We will all still be around,  because how could Italians do without us?”.

The websites of La Repubblica and the weekly magazine  L’Espresso have posted recordings of conversations they said  were between Berlusconi and Patrizia D’Addario, an escort who  says she and other women were paid to attend parties at  Berlusconi’s residence in Rome.

While Berlusconi’s comments offered no specific admission,  they did appear to be a change of tack in dealing with the  scandal, particularly after newspapers around the world  reprinted the transcripts in full or in part.

On Monday, his lawyer Niccolo Ghedini branded the tapes  “totally unlikely and the product of the imagination” and warned  that it was illegal to post or publish them.

Although Berlusconi has tried to make light of the  controversy surrounding his private life, the possible political  ramifications have been lurking in the background.

An opinion poll published on Tuesday showed his approval  rating falling below 50 percent for the first time since he won  a landslide election victory last year.

The poll showed that Berlusconi had lost four percentage  points since May, when his wife filed for divorce, setting off a  chain of disclosures about his private life.