Fine Gael must change the way it develops and communicates policies if it is to become the largest party in the Dáil after the next general election, the party's leader, Enda Kenny, declared.
Speaking before a pre-Dáil meeting of the Fine Gael parliamentary party in Galway, Mr Kenny said Fine Gael "should not be blind to what needs to be done now" even though it had won 20 extra Dáil seats. "We are only halfway there," he said.
"But Fianna Fáil won power. Despite our performance, they maintained their vote share and contained their losses to a level which put them in the driving seat to form a government."
He accepted that the Labour Party under its new leader, Eamon Gilmore, would adopt an independent stand, though they would co-operate on "matters of mutual concern to both parties".
However, he was quick to reject suggestions that Fine Gael's election gains had come at the expense of Labour. "Fine Gael did not do well out of the Labour Party, Fine Gael did well in having a contract with the Labour Party," he said.
Addressing the meeting, Mr Kenny later said: "The next election, whenever it comes, will revolve around one issue - do the people want a Fianna Fáil- or a Fine Gael-led government? It seems certain that all other parties will adopt an independent stance going into the election.
"The fallout from this election will convince the voters that the composition of government will only become clear after the election," he declared.
Mr Kenny said he will shortly create new policy commissions, involving senior parliamentary party and outside figures to draft reports by the end of 2008/early 2009 for submission to the parliamentary party. Each commission should "signal a fresh way of approaching" policy and look at the major changes in Irish society, and display "a willingness to bring forward and debate radical policy choices".
"In the last election we recovered our party. We came close to government. It would be easy for us to think that a little bit more of the same will get us over the line the next time. It won't.
"It's time for us to be brave, to think in a fresh way about old problems and to be prepared to confront issues which the cosy consensus of the last 10 years has failed to solve," he said.
Significant changes are expected in the Fine Gael front bench which is to be announced shortly, though Mr Kenny, keen to maintain the unity of recent years, stressed that each deputy will "have specific duties and responsibilities". The demand for stronger policies yesterday by newly-elected Dublin West TD Leo Varadkar is taken as an early signal that he, and other new deputies, want senior positions on the front bench.
"Our challenge is to take on Fianna Fáil and win - win on policy, win on organisation, win on communication," Mr Kenny told colleagues.
Fine Gael, he said, had sought to offer "reassurance" to voters in this year's election that it had the competence to run a government; that Fine Gael and Labour would not increase taxes; and that the peace process was safe in their hands.
"This worked well. Along with our strong focus on improving public services like health, it helped us to recover seats. However, our platform was not enough to persuade enough swing voters to move to Fine Gael and win the seats that would let us lead a new government."
He said the goal next time must be to move "beyond reassurance to inspiration" through leadership and creative ideas.
"It will be important to convince the media/electorate that our 'poster promises' are the tip of the iceberg and symbolic of a much wider and well-considered reform agenda consistent with our core values and principles."
