FF rejects suggestion that the PDs drove economic success

Fianna Fáil has rejected the suggestion by Tánaiste Michael McDowell that his party, the PDs, was the driving force behind Ireland's economic prosperity.

The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Micheál Martin, said that while the Fianna Fáil-PD partnership was responsible for the economic turnaround of the past ten years, it was his party making all the tough decisions.

Fianna Fáil's first news conference of the election campaign this morning will focus on the economy.

The Minister says policies like reducing corporate and capital gains tax are what allowed businesses to really flourish here.

"Make no mistake about it, Fianna Fáil is the lead party, it'd be the party that's had the capacity to take the tough decisions and take those decisions through," he said.