Fianna Fáil has issued yet another defence of its performance since the election and attacked the Opposition over their election promises.
A 20-page Fianna Fáil document published yesterday by the Minister for Communications, Mr Dermot Ahern, came only a week after the party released a 14-page report dismissing criticism that it had misled voters during the election campaign.
Days after the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, conceded Fianna Fáil's promise to abolish waiting lists within two years would not be met, Mr Ahern said the Government was taking "tough decisions" on spending to maintain prosperity.
"That's exactly what we are going to do - our prosperity depends on it," Mr Ahern said.
The Fianna Fáil document said: "It's time for the Opposition to stop hiding - to stop screaming 'crisis' at every turn and come out at last with some policies." It added: "Confidence in our public affairs - so difficult to build - is, it seems, just more collateral damage caused by Fine Gael and Labour in their fight for lost ground."
The document yesterday came as the Government seeks to reassert its authority after damaging disagreements over health funding and the question of third-level fees.
It said: "The parties who have spent the last year since the election suggesting that Fianna Fáil deceived the electorate seem to have forgotten that the core point in our manifesto was our pledge to borrow less and spend less than the other parties, while keeping taxes low."
Political sources have confirmed the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, told Ministers in recent weeks they were not doing enough to highlight their achievements.
With the most recent Irish Times TNS/MRBI opinion poll showing that support for the Taoiseach and the Government had reached a record low, Mr Dermot Ahern said yesterday that the policies proposed last year by Fine Gael and Labour would have plunged the State into a downward spiral of job losses, emigration and borrowing for current spending.
"A year ago Fine Gael made €8 billion worth of election pledges. Implementation of these promises would have robbed Ireland of its economic prosperity and delivered only debt and unemployment," Mr Ahern claimed.
"Labour's election promises would have increased the national debt by more than 50 per cent. Its pledge to push through its promises even if the economy dipped indicates a clear disregard for the long-term health of the economy."
Fianna Fáil accused the Greens of threatening "chaos" in the economy and said the new ally of Fine Gael and Labour in the "politics of discontent" was Sinn Féin.
"They have produced few constructive policies and the continued suggestion by both parties that the Government parties lied is a sorry attempt to rewrite recent history," Mr Ahern added.
