Taoiseach in Cork:Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said yesterday that a Fianna Fáil-Labour coalition would offer the country stable government if his preferred option of a return to power with the Progressive Democrats isn't possible.
Mr Ahern said he had made it quite clear that his preferred option was a return to government with the PDs but in the event of the smaller party failing to get sufficient seats, then clearly a Fianna Fáil-Labour coalition would offer the best prospect of stable government.
"I would be very happy with what we've had for the last 10 years - the Progressive Democrats and ourselves - and if that's not possible, I've declared clearly what my options are - I've said previously I had no difficulty in doing business with Labour.
"I think maybe Labour have a contrary view but let's see what happens," said Mr Ahern. Pressed again on whether a Fianna Fáil-Labour coalition was his second preferred option, he indicated unambiguously that it was.
"Your question was who would form a very stable government and that [a Fianna Fáil-Labour coalition] is clearly the answer," said Mr Ahern during a canvass in Mitchelstown in Cork East constituency yesterday with outgoing local TD Ned O'Keeffe.
Mr Ahern said that stable government was essential for the economy. "I would not like to go back to the 1981 and 1982 position. A whole generation here don't remember what it was like when we had three general elections in 18 months - that did terrible damage to the country and that kind of instability would cripple the country again," he said.
Asked about constituency by constituency predictions from former Fine Gael minister and bookmaker Ivan Yates that Fianna Fáil could drop to 67 seats and the PDs be reduced from eight to just one TD, Mr Ahern said he didn't believe such punditry was accurate or useful.
"To be honest, you probably won't believe this but I've never gone through the list and marked it up and I'm not going to do it but when the election is over, I'll see what the people have decided. I think all that kind of punditry. . . it's kind of meaningless."
Mr Ahern said that it was much more important for him to expend his energy on trying to influence the final outcome of seats than speculating on them but he rejected suggestions that the PDs were facing political oblivion.
"I don't think that is going to happen - I haven't picked up that in any of the polls that I've seen - certainly in the Greater Dublin area, the polls would indicate that the PDs will do quite well."
Mr Ahern said the polls suggested that somewhere between 5 and 7 per cent of Fianna Fáil voters may not vote but he said that it was crucial that the party got all its voters out.