In opposition, Fianna Fail was bemused by the failure of Fine Gael, the Labour Party and Democratic Left to use the powerful medium of local radio. And Bertie Ahern took full advantage of the open-door policy such stations offered to prominent politicians. He and his front bench got an uncontested run on many controversial issues.
While John Bruton, Dick Spring and Proinsias De Rossa concentrated their attention on RTE radio and television programmes, Fianna Fail spread its net much wider and cultivated the entire spectrum of local and national stations. In Government, after last June's election, the Taoiseach was determined to profit from the lesson and that the Rainbow's tactical mistakes should not recur within his government.
Marty Whelan, former Fianna Fail press officer, was asked to monitor the airwaves systematically within an expanded Government Information Service and to provide Ministers with up-to-the-minute news and early warning of potentially damaging controversies. Rapid response was the key to this strategy and it applied to all reports that might negatively affect the Government.
The importance of local radio in political terms is immense. Two Dublin stations, 98 FM and FM 104 have, Mr Whelan says, a bigger listenership in the capital than RTE, while Highland Radio in Donegal attracts three-quarters of the local population. Other local stations are strongly competitive and influential. As well as that, the recently established Irish National News company supplies a service to 26 local stations.
Under the new regime, all stations, national and local, are carefully monitored from 6 a.m. to 11.45 p.m., from Monday to Friday, on a three-shift basis. Weekend coverage is more relaxed, but mainly because of a staff shortage.
At the moment, Mr Whelan has three clerical and three executive officers under his direction but this number will shortly be expanded to eight. The cost does not fall directly on the Department of the Taoiseach as the civil servants have been seconded from other Departments. But it is probably about £130,000 and will rise with any increase in staff numbers.
All 32 Ministers and Ministers of State are serviced directly by the communications unit. The objectives are to ensure the Government view is disseminated to as wide an audience as possible; to provide better internal communications and to counter criticisms quickly.
Work begins at 6 a.m. Newspapers, along with national and local radio stations, are monitored for news and other issues that may affect Government business. A brief, three-page synopsis is faxed to the homes of the 15 Ministers and 17 Ministers of State by 7.15 a.m. And email versions of the service are waiting on the computers of department secretaries, Ministers' private secretaries and their political advisers when they turn in to work.
The service is updated hourly to cope with a rapidly changing local news service and to ensure that Ministers can respond quickly. While Departments and Ministers' political advisers are told what is happening, it is up to them to decide on the relevant response. They may seek radio or television time for their Minister, or for a spokesman, or they may choose to respond by way of a written statement.
Mr Whelan said most local radio stations had a quick turnaround in news items with reports enjoying a four- to five-hour lifespan. If there is no early response, then the Government view frequently does not get expressed on the item.
Because of the service supplied to local stations by Irish National News it is possible for the communications unit to monitor most of the day's events by plugging in to five radio stations, three television stations and the newspapers. It is a fast and furious service. "If a story is wrong or negative, it has to generate a Government response within the hour in order for that to be effective," Mr Whelan says. Long hours, hard work, the buzz of being in Government - and a step ahead of the Opposition parties - obviously appeal. Bertie Ahern is more cautious. The communications unit, the Taoiseach recently told the Dail, was "a new initiative designed to service all Ministers and to improve and expand the services provided by the GIS".
Behind such modest words lurks a powerful, early-warning government weapon for responding to the media.