The Labour Party will field 65 candidates in the general election with a view to leading the next government, party leader Eamon Gilmore has said.
Speaking to reporters at the end of a two-day meeting of his parliamentary party in Roscommon, Mr Gilmore said Ireland needed “a fresh start with a new government”.
“It is our intention at the moment to stand 65 candidates in the general election, each of whom will be standing to win. That is sufficient to make Labour the largest party in the next Dáil and to lead the next government,” Mr Gilmore said.
There are 166 TDs in the Dáil, representing 43 constituencies. The total includes the Ceann Comhairle, who is automatically re-elected.
Education spokesman and former finance minister Ruairí Quinn has been appointed director of elections.
Mr Gilmore said candidates had been selected in about a third of constituencies, while the process had begun or was due to begin in the remainder.
“If we won 65 seats, that leaves 100 for everybody else and it would make Labour the largest party in the Dáil,” Mr Gilmore said. “That’s the basis on which we’re contesting this election, is to be the largest party and to lead the next government.”
Mr Gilmore said he believed the events surrounding the Taoiseach's controversial radio interview had increased the likelihood of an early dissolution of the Dáil.
"I think there is a momentum building up in the country, it has been building for some time. The strategy that Fianna Fáil appeared to have adopted, to sit tight, serve out the time, hope that things would turn around, and that there would be an electoral consequence of that, I think the public are just intolerant of that and are not prepared to allow that to happen.
"People want the Government out of office and what we're seeing over the last couple of days is clearly that Fianna Fáil TDs, particularly backbenchers, are getting that message," he said.
Mr Gilmore again categorically ruled out coalition with Fianna Fáil, even under a different leader.
He said a change of leadership would not be credible. “I don’t think it is either going to resolve the electoral fortunes of Fianna Fáil, nor is it going to resolve the economic and confidence problems that this country has now,” he said.
He claimed Fianna Fáil had “got the country into this mess” and all Ministers shared collective responsibility for this.
At the meeting, the party discussed election strategy and planning for the next Dáil term, along with issues related to banking, job creation and the health service.
