Ahern’s goodwill hunting ahead of Nice

Political Editor, John Downing reports on the role the backbenchers are being asked to play before going to polls

PART of Bertie Ahern's job in Killarney last night and today is to remind his troops that other political parties would dream of having Fianna Fáil's current problems. As the biggest Dáil party by a mile they should be set fair to govern for up to another four years and eight months.

Even moderately seasoned FF campaigners pounding the election canvass beat last April and May knew that, if they succeeded in their mission, things would be extremely tough come this autumn. The economic slowdown and a tightening public purse meant it could not be otherwise.