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.”

Meanwhile, Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny and Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte, meeting in Co Westmeath for the first anniversary of the Mullingar Accord, also went on the attack saying they would zero in on Government mismanagement of taxpayers’ money in the coming months.

They highlighted a series of areas where they contended the Government had frittered resources, ranging from overspending on roads, to electronic voting, to the perception of ‘rip-off Ireland’. They also said that they would move to make the social partnership process more transparent.

Ironically, both the Fianna Fáil and the Fine Gael/Labour events had not intended to focus on economic performance and trustworthiness. The aggressive criticism of senior FF figures may have been motivated by their pique at Mr Kenny and Mr Rabbitte for opportunistically coinciding the Mullingar event with the FF think-in in Cavan.

Senior ministers Dermot Ahern and Brian Cowen joined in the chorus. Mr Ahern mocked the putative Rainbow as an “axis of taxes”, while Mr Cowen alleged that neither FG nor Labour had succeeded in putting forward any substantive policies.

“Meeting in Mullingar to have a cup of coffee to commemorate the last cup of coffee they had won’t be sufficient,” he chided.

The themes of this year’s FF conference are community-building and improvements on childcare. While the party is expected to unveil details of extra measures on childcare today, the thrust of the attack yesterday suggest that the Government is going to rely on its record on the economy as its trump card for the 2007 elections.

Like his senior colleagues, Mr Ahern took care not to directly confront the criticisms made by Eddie Hobbs and his hugely successful Rip Off Republic series.