Political parties set out their election stalls in the Dáil last night as the House agreed to hold the Kildare North and Meath by-elections on Friday March 11th.
During a rowdy debate, the parties praised their own candidates and hit out at their opponents with numerous political jibes.
Fianna Fáil will select its Kildare North candidate tomorrow night.
The Government chief whip, Mr Tom Kitt, moved the writ for the Kildare North by-election and Fine Gael's chief whip, Mr Paul Kehoe, moved the writ for Meath's by-election.
The Minister for Finance, Mr Cowen, led the speeches and praised his predecessor and outgoing TD, Mr Charlie McCreevy, who is Ireland's EU Commissioner.
Commending Mr McCreevy's achievements as minister for finance and TD for North Kildare, Mr Cowen said the Government would ask the people of North Kildare "in a sensible way whether it is in their interest that they face the prospect of being represented by no Government TD for the next 2½ years".
He sarcastically suggested that the only two people who would outwork Fianna Fáil canvassers in North Kildare were the sitting Fine Gael and Labour TDs, Mr Bernard Durkan and Mr Emmet Stagg, in the three-seat constituency.
Mr Cowen said that he was sure that they "will be out day and night working hard for their prospective running mates for the next general election".
He asked: "In what way, for the remainder of the Dáil term, does it suit or coincide with the interests of the people of North Kildare that we have another opposition deputy without influence or impact being suggested as a prospective candidate who will support their interests?"
The Fine Gael leader, Mr Enda Kenny, welcomed the Government decision to hold the election on March 11th.
Referring to the Meath contest, to replace the former taoiseach Mr John Bruton, Mr Kenny said: "We respect the scale of the challenge".
Fianna Fáil had got 47 per cent of the vote in Meath over the past 50 years and "in fairness to the Fianna Fáil party over the years, there is a considerable difficulty for anyone in trying to take that Meath seat".
But Mr Kenny said the people of Meath were fair-minded.
The Government "wanted long days for the by-election. The people of Meath are well able to make up their minds on the quality of the candidates, whether the days are dark or bright."
The Labour leader, Mr Pat Rabbitte, said he had no idea what all the fuss was about or why such bogus excuses were advanced for not running the elections.
To produce a victory in Kildare North, Fianna Fáil would first have to produce a candidate, he said.
If they followed the pattern in choosing a candidate in Meath and got the wrong one, now that the election campaign was under way there would be "great difficulty in changing horses", Mr Rabbitte added.
Mr Cowen retorted that they knew what Labour had done during the presidential election. "There was no candidate," he reminded Mr Rabbitte.
