Poll position: first shots fired in battle for votes

THE first volleys were fired last night in what may turn out to be the longest election campaign in Irish political history when Fianna Fáil and the opposition mounted blistering attacks on each other’s policies and trustworthiness.

On a day of political crossfire, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern led the charge for his party when he claimed that, if Fine Gael and Labour were returned to power Ireland “would be back in the third world in jig time”. In a series of references designed to undermine the opposition’s credibility when it came to managing the economy, Mr Ahern contended that when FG-led coalitions were in power in the 1980s and 1990s, the economy had floundered.

Speaking on the opening day of the FF parliamentary conference in Ballyconnell, Co Cavan, yesterday, Mr Ahern said: “When they last had the chance, this country was nearly down the tubes.”