Mr Michael Noonan has ended Fine Gael's dependence on corporate funding, moving to seize the high moral ground on business funding of politics following his election as party leader.
After defeating Mr Enda Kenny by 44 votes to 28 at yesterday's parliamentary party meeting, Mr Noonan said he was instructing Fine Gael's employees, trustees and all units of the organisation to accept no more corporate donations.
He also said the party would introduce a Bill to ban corporate funding.
Fine Gael has not previously supported proposals to ban business donations. However, according to Mr Noonan: "Fine Gael must restore trust in politics."
Pledging to revitalise the party, he said he would be a "campaigning leader". He would spend less time in Leinster House, travelling to different parts of the State to boost the party's profile.
He appointed Mr Jim Mitchell as his deputy leader immediately after the election result. Mr Mitchell withdrew from the race yesterday.
Mr Kenny, widely expected to be appointed to Mr Noonan's front bench, pledged full support for Mr Noonan. "We must unite behind his leadership in the drive to take government from Fianna Fail."
Mr Noonan will not announce details of his front bench until Thursday, and will spend the next few days talking to prospective members. He pledged to slim down the front bench, giving its members more responsibility and allowing each member to select two deputy spokespersons. He promised that young people would be well represented.
The new leader moved quickly to give Fine Gael a social democratic image. On the question posed by the Tanaiste last year on whether the US or European social model was superior, he put himself in the European camp.
He said he would make health the major general election issue. He supported the European over the US social model and said the policy issues for this generation were "about equity, about fair play for all, about how we use the wealth we create in the interest of all our people".
His dramatic move on corporate funding is designed to make the business funding of politics a major issue in the next general election. Seeking to position Fine Gael as a party of mass appeal, he said it would fight the next election "on the small contributions of the ordinary people all over the length and breadth of this country".
With Government proposals to increase election spending limits coming before the Dail shortly, Mr Noonan made a virtue of saying Fine Gael would not spend as much as Fianna Fail in the next general election. If Fianna Fail tried "to buy the next election", he said, Fine Gael would make a major issue out of the fact that this was being done with the help of large corporate donations.
His decision to accept no more corporate donations goes further than the Labour Party on the matter, and the two parties are now set to fight for the high moral ground on the issue.
Mr Noonan pledged to reverse Mr McCreevy's tax "individualisation" policy by increasing the standard rate tax band for single-income couples to the level enjoyed by double-income couples. However, he did not put a timescale on this.
He also suggested that in government he would reverse the decision in December's Budget to remove the ceiling on employer PRSI payments. This, Mr Noonan said, was a "bad idea".
He ruled out the prospect of negotiating with Sinn Fein after an election concerning the formation of the government. "I will not talk to Sinn Fein as long as they have a military wing."
There was immediate speculation yesterday that Fine Gael would move the writ shortly for the Tipperary South by-election to fill the vacancy caused by the death of party TD Ms Theresa Ahearn last year.