TV advert:Opposition parties were last night playing down the significance of contributions from former US president Bill Clinton, British prime minister Tony Blair and former US senator George Mitchell, all of whom pay warm tribute to the Taoiseach in the latest party political broadcast from Fianna Fáil. Deaglán de Bréadún, Political Correspondent, reports.
In the four-minute election broadcast, Mr Blair says: "We would never have had the peace process in Northern Ireland without Bertie Ahern."
A similar point is made by former president Clinton who says: "If it hadn't been for Bertie Ahern and Tony Blair we would never have had the Good Friday agreement."
Mr Mitchell, who chaired the talks at Stormont which led to the Belfast Agreement, says the Taoiseach's role was "crucial" to the success of the negotiations.
Mr Blair also praises Mr Ahern for his "immeasurable" contribution to Ireland's economic success, both as Taoiseach and minister for finance.
A Fianna Fáil spokeswoman told The Irish Times: "They were all asked to participate. They knew they were participating in a party political broadcast."
All three recordings were made last month: "They were shown the finished version and they cleared it before it went ahead. All three approved them, and they saw the final version. They were all cleared personally."
A Labour spokesman said: "Bill Clinton and George Mitchell have retired from public office. Tony Blair is about to go out of office. They are quite free to pay tribute to whoever they wish but in many respects their contributions reflect the end of a particular political era. The Labour Party and the majority of voters are looking to the future, not the past."
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said Fianna Fáil was entitled to use any figureheads or personalities it wanted in its party political broadcasts, but people were not going to be judging Mr Clinton, Mr Blair or Mr Mitchell on polling day. He said of the three men: "They're all gone or they're on the way out."
A Fine Gael spokesman pointed out that Fianna Fáil TD Seán Fleming had attacked them last month over a goodwill letter from German chancellor Angela Merkel read out to the party's ardfheis. "The Irish people have a very deep-rooted sense of not being told what to do by foreign powers," said Mr Fleming, adding that Fine Gael had demonstrated "a massive inferiority complex" by getting endorsements from people in other countries.