Labour leader is sure the public is in the mood for change, writes Stephen Collins, Political Editor
Stephen Collins: There have been suggestions in recent times that you have changed your position on coalition going into the election. Where does the Labour Party stand?
Pat Rabbitte:The electoral strategy has been settled since the Tralee conference and it mandates me to negotiate on the basis of an alternative government with democratic parties of opposition.
I have been doing precisely that with Fine Gael so that people will have a choice of government when the general election comes.
What I have been trying to do behind the scenes and in some documents published jointly with Fine Gael is to work at the nuts and bolts of the policy changes we propose to make in that alternative government.
Q If Fine Gael and Labour do not have the numbers to form a government are you prepared to go into government with Fianna Fáil?
Rabbitte:I don't accept that Labour and Fine Gael don't have a real chance of winning this election.
I think the most recent opinion poll was very bad news for Fianna Fáil. IMS has traditionally overestimated Fianna Fáil by an average of eight points.
I am not saying that Fianna Fáil are at 31 points but I believe the election is winnable.
The goal I set myself, and which was endorsed four to one at the Labour conference, was to elect a different and better government and replace the two parties now in government. That remains my position.
Q Are there any circumstances in which you would be open to going into government with Fianna Fáil if the numbers with Fine Gael don't add up?
Rabbitte:I don't think it is reasonable to ask me to respond to a number of "what ifs" after the election. I think all I can say about it is that I have no intention of putting Fianna Fáil back in government, none at all, and I really don't think it is reasonable to ask me to say more than that; that is my settled position.
I have no intention of putting Fianna Fáil back in government and I don't know how many different ways one can say that.
Q Before the last election you said you wouldn't serve in government with Fianna Fáil. Are you modifying that position now?
Rabbitte:For me to answer that question has a completely different context now. I have maintained a constant position on this issue. I can't envisage any circumstances where I would depart from that constant position.
Q Is the Tánaiste, Michael McDowell, right when he says that the basic issue in the election is whether the PDs or Labour will dictate the agenda for government?
Rabbitte:I honestly believe that the PDs are incidental and peripheral to this general election.
Even if Fianna Fáil were to get the 39 per cent in last Sunday's poll, that is about 65 seats, and there is no possibility of forming a government with the PDs.
So Michael McDowell is trying to stay relevant but he simply will not have the critical mass. In any event he is politically promiscuous beyond acceptable norms. He tried to talk his way into the alternative government. His argument seemed to be that Labour and Fine Gael would be a disastrous government unless it included Michael McDowell. I just think the PDs will be peripheral.
Q Do you really think Fine Gael and Labour can win all the extra seats needed to form a government?
Rabbitte:I remain convinced that there is a mood out there for change. I think Labour and Fine Gael have still a task to convince the public that we represent that change.
I believe there is an immense amount of experience in my own party. People have served as ministers and have vast parliamentary experience. People who have convictions and want to do something.
I think the important thing is that the Irish people will have available to them a choice.
They will have two competing blocs offering to form a government.
Since I more than anybody else am the architect of that situation I am completely bemused and amused that my conviction about it ought to be questioned.
I am determined to see the Labour Party gain the maximum strength within that electoral strategy and that we will put forward a programme for change as a reforming government with Fine Gael.