Launch:Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Tánaiste Michael McDowell yesterday placed different emphases on the timing of the launch of the National Development Plan (NDP) with months to go to the general election.
Asked how important the plan was for the Government parties in the lead up to polling day, Mr Ahern said the plan would bring the country up to Christmas 2013 and was "not going to change the world in the next three months".
He said he hoped people would see that this Government, right across all economic policies, was "planning for longer term".
Mr Ahern said the plan "will pass not alone the next election, but the one after that as well". "That is what we have been doing for a long time and is why we have been done so well. And seen internationally why we have done so well. It is not short term or looking into the next year, but has been looking longer term."
However, Mr McDowell said the people must be able to see what the Government parties have put together before the election to ensure the country continues to be prosperous.
"There is a thought out there that somehow the next election is going to be about a government which has been there for 10 years and which has run out of ideas and out of steam with nothing to say.
"The Government parties are determined that the Irish people can see that they have put together, before we go to the people, a broad framework for which this country is going to continue to be prosperous."
Mr McDowell added: "It will not be a question of the entire Government falling over the line and getting re-elected simply on the basis that it is better than the opposition. The next election in both the Taoiseach's and my view would be won by the parties with the more challenging agenda - and the credibility to deliver."
At a press conference following the launch of the plan, Mr Ahern said it was sustainable and would be delivered and provide value for money.
Asked about what was new in the plan, the Taoiseach said a lot of the new elements include the social inclusion package, initiatives for educational and science. He also said there were cultural aspects in the new plan that had not been outlined before.
Mr Ahern said he is confident the plan will represent value for money and that the country had improved in its approach to developments with Irish contractors now linking up with other contractors in Europe to undertake projects.
He said 14 of the 15 major national projects last year finished ahead of time.
Minister for Finance Brian Cowen said new elements of the plan include provision for more than 100,000 social and affordable houses and said the NDP supplied the country with an integrated fundamental framework for sustainable development.
"The Government has presented a plan which is prudent and justified."
He said it was going to deal with remaining infrastructure deficits in the country, which we may not be able to afford to undertake in the decade ahead if economic circumstances change.