Launch of PDs' election campaign: Major planning decisions facing Dublin local authorities will play a "critical" role in the development of the country as a whole, the Progressive Democrats have said.
"If we get it right, the whole country will benefit. If we don't, we could spend years undoing bad mistakes," the Tánaiste, Ms Harney, said.
Launching the party's local election campaign in the capital, the Progressive Democrat leader said she was hoping for gains across the board.
"A lot of people are standing down. Obviously that will affect the larger parties more than us. Dublin is very difficult because a lot of the wards are very small.
"Some of them are as small as three seats. Many of the candidates we have are new to politics. They were involved in community activity.
"I think it is quite open. I think there may be seats from Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, wherever," she told The Irish Times yesterday.
The election campaign has not been dominated by any particular issue, she said: "There are no overriding national issues that are common throughout the country."
But she said: "I would like to see more debates on issues. The reality is that it just the photo-calls and 'the funnies' that are getting most of the attention.
"Clearly we are all participating in it, so I am not criticising anybody. We are trying to think up of new ideas to get some focus in the campaign.
"Maybe it is saying a lot about politics and media reporting of politics. It is a chicken-and-egg scenario. There seems to be very little anywhere I have been."
The local elections, however, have been overshadowed by the European contest: "Most of the focus is on the Europeans, rather than the locals. The profile is more national. It is very much personality-driven, but, to be fair, it always was. The public have always looked separately on European elections from local or national elections," said the Tánaiste.
The Progressive Democrats are running 128 candidates nationally in the June 11th elections. Of these, 25 will be competing for places on the four Dublin local authorities.
Questioned about the citizenship referendum, the Tánaiste acknowledged that the Government has so far not managed to make the case for it.
She said: "I think the Government has a duty to explain to the public clearly what the referendum is about. It is about closing a loophole in Irish citizenship. I think if we explain that, the vast majority of people will be supportive of it, and we haven't yet managed to do that."