Government and Opposition parties will today fight for control of the election agenda, with Fine Gael and Labour working to push the debate away from the disputes over economic accountancy, write Mark Brennock and Mark Hennessy
The Fine Gael leader, Mr Michael Noonan, will today focus on health, visiting a hospital in Mullingar which he turned the sod on as minister for health in 1997 but still stands as an empty building. The hospital is a symbol of the Government's failure on health, claimed a party source last night.
However, the Taoiseach will this morning stay firmly on the issue of economic responsibility, hosting a press conference on his party's plans for pensions. The party is also expected to return to its claims that Fine Gael's economic figures don't add up, a charge outlined in great detail by it yesterday, and dismissed with equal detail by Fine Gael.
Fianna Fáil strategists insist Fine Gael and Labour are vulnerable to claims of fiscal recklessness. The main Opposition parties deny this, and will this week strive to move attention to other issues.
Economics is just a means to an end, said a Labour spokesman last night.This was not an election about accountancy. Labour will today unveil policies on law reform and disability.
While Fianna Fáil will continue to attack the Opposition's proposals, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, yesterday carefully kept open the prospect of coalition with Labour after the election if the current Government is not returned. Asked on RTÉ's This Week programme whether his objections to Labour's policies would rule out going into government with them he said that apart from Labour's plan to increase Capital Gains Tax, "I have not heard things I believe are impossible".
Green Party proposals announced yesterday to cut billions on road spending from the National Development Plan and invest in public transport instead will create difficulties in any post-election talks with both Labour and Fine Gael, both of whom want faster road construction.
Last week, Fine Gael and Labour strongly backed the construction of new motorways to ease traffic chaos, arguing that economic development will be held back if this does not happen.
However, launching their manifesto the Greens demanded a €6 billion investment in public transport, including a Cork/Derry rail link, via Galway, Limerick and Sligo.
"We are talking about shaving hours off commuting, rather than shaving a few minutes off the journey from the Red Cow roundabout in Dublin to the Raheen roundabout in Limerick," said Dublin South Green candidate Mr Eamon Ryan.
Meanwhile Fine Gael and Labour yesterday demanded that the Taoiseach agree to more television debates than the single one he has agreed to hold with Mr Noonan three days before polling takes place.
"The Taoiseach is not the Emperor of Japan to be presented for adoration at selected sites", said Labour's campaign director Mr Brendan Howlin yesterday. "There should be an open debate between the three biggest parties in the State."
Fine Gael's Mr Brian Hayes claimed Mr Ahern was afraid of a head-to-head with Mr Noonan - the alternative Taoiseach - at the start of the general election campaign. Fianna Fáil dismissed the claim.
Fine Gael strategists are desperate for an early debate, believing it will boost their leader's profile as the alternative Taoiseach.
The Progressive Democrats, meanwhile, are seeking a television debate between the Tánaiste, Ms Harney and the Labour Party leader, Mr Ruairí Quinn.
However a Labour spokesman said it had "no interest in a debate solely with a spent political force.
"However we would have no difficulty in a four-way debate involving the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and Michael Noonan."