Fianna Fáil launched another strong attack on the Opposition parties yesterday, accusing them of avoiding debate on the economy and of failing to back up promises with details of how they would be costed.
Following a robust onslaught on Fine Gael and Labour policies on Monday by Minister for Finance Brian Cowen, yesterday Minister for Enterprise Micheál Martin and Minister for Social Affairs Séamus Brennan said their proposals did not stand up to scrutiny and they were "conning" the Irish people.
Mr Martin claimed that the Opposition was promising something for "everyone in the audience" with 2,300 more acute hospital beds and more gardaí, but they were not saying how they would be paid for.
"They are swanking around the place like they are in the government. Some are already divvying up the spoils amongst themselves. I would like to remind them there are still nine days to go to this election," he said.
Commenting on the Irish Independent/IMS opinion poll which shows Fianna Fáil down three points to 35 per cent, Mr Brennan said he accepted it would be a close election but there was a deadly serious choice for the Irish people to make.
They must decide whether they wanted the current Government, which had led the country from hard times to a situation where it was a prosperous nation, or the alternative coalition which could set us back years. "Which team is better to protect the prosperity of this country?"
He said the party expected that incumbent Fianna Fáil TDs would retain their seats and said: "Mark my words. Fianna Fáil will have a better result than is predicted on the front pages of the papers."
Mr Brennan said in the last 10 years 250,000 people have been taken out of poverty, 100,000 of those children. "Do we want to undo all the good that has been done?"
Meanwhile, Fine Gael TD Phil Hogan, who led the efforts to build the party's list of election candidates, predicted that Fianna Fáil was in line to "match the losses made by Fine Gael in 2002". Fine Gael is now targeting between 56 and 57 seats, while Fianna Fail could go under 60 seats - though this would be a historically low figure for the largest political party in the State.
Rejecting suggestions that Fine Gael has peaked too early in the campaign - given that the Independent's poll figures are a week old, Mr Hogan joked: "It's great to peak some time. Fine Gael hasn't peaked for a while."
Meanwhile PD deputy leader Liz O'Donnell said people had to reflect on the gravity of who was going to form the next government.
Ms O'Donnell said she could not see the PDs negotiating with the Labour Party after the election.
She said if the figures did not work out with FF, the PDs would be open to negotiating with any party which had policies which were compatible with theirs and that certainly did not include the Labour Party.
"I can't imagine us doing serious business with Labour," she said, adding the PDs' preference was to continue in government with Fianna Fáil.
She said the Irish people may be "sleepwalking" into an alternative government rather than taking stock of what that meant for job creation and sustaining economic prosperity.
Targeting Minister for the Environment Dick Roche and Minister for Transport Martin Cullen, Fine Gael's Mr Hogan said that neither has been visible during the campaign.
Yesterday, Mr Roche had been asked to appear on an RTÉ Morning Ireland interview about water quality in Galway, but he declined and his place was taken by the Minister for Gaeltacht, Rural and Community Affairs.