Fine Gael and the Progressive Democrats today unveiled billboard campaigns attacking each other.
Speaking at the introduction of the second billboard in the PD poster campaign, Minister for Justice Michael McDowell said Fine Gael had succumbed to negative politics, political blather and the culture of complaint.
"Fine Gael has failed to articulate a clear set of its own policies. Fine Gael has failed to build up its own set of personalities. Having no political room left, is it any surprise therefore that they must now resort to negative campaigning?" he said.
The PD's billboard focuses on the reductions in the top rate of income tax under the present Government.
Mr McDowell accused Enda Kenny of failing to agree a comprehensive programme of policies with the Labour Party or the Greens as he had promised.
"Broken promises in government are the stuff of political cut and thrust. Broken promises in opposition are a novelty," he said.
On the opposition benches, Fine Gael has begun a campaign identifying key failings of the FF/PD Government in the areas of health and crime.
Enda Kenny said criminals were literally "getting away with murder" under the present Government.
"The system of justice too often appears to favour the rights of the criminal rather than the rights of the victim. According to the CSO, since 2003 we have seen murders increase by 25 per cent, rapes by 33 per cent and gun crime by 43 per cent, and the Government until recently barely acknowledged the problem," he said.
He also pointed to the average of 250 people on trolleys in A&E departments throughout the country despite billions of taxpayers' money "being thrown at the problem.
"The key message from this phase of the campaign is that Fianna Fáil and the PDs will brazenly try to gloss over their failures in these areas and try to hoodwink the electorate with the message that 'Everything is Just Great'," he said.
"Ireland deserves better than that. With Fine Gael in government, Ireland will see those hard issues being tackled and real solutions being provided," he added.