Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny has challenged the Taoiseach to engage in a public debate on crime before the election, which he promised would be the most competitive in 25 years.
Mr Kenny also said that in government Fine Gael would make significant changes to the stamp duty regime on houses and would abolish the tax on the first €450,000 for all first-time buyers.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio's This Week programme, Mr Kenny said his party was ready for the election. "The engine is primed. This will be the mother and the father of all battles and will be the most competitive election in 25 years. I am looking forward to winning that."
Fine Gael had identified 30 extra seats that the party could win on a good day. "I believe the mood for change is palpable out there. We have a brilliant set of candidates and we are going to work them to the bone. This is a very serious business and we are serious about that business and it is about electing a government that will deliver the services to the people for which they are paying."
Mr Kenny reiterated his commitment to the alliance with Labour. "We have been working on this individually and jointly for the past three and a half years. It is working very well, it will give the people a real choice and a real alternative and that is what democracy is about."
He maintained that Fine Gael and Labour could win the required number of seats to form a government, but said that if they did not have a majority he would prefer to do business with the Greens rather than the Progressive Democrats.
"Michael McDowell sold his soul when he propped up the Government on the last occasion. They have ruled themselves out from Fine Gael and have welded themselves irretrievably to Fianna Fáil. Michael McDowell has made his bed, so let him lie on it," he said.
Mr Kenny said that crime was a huge issue for voters because the Government had failed to deliver despite all its tough talk. Murder was up 25 per cent, rape up 33 per cent and gun crime up 43 per cent while detection rates were falling. He pledged that Fine Gael would increase the number of gardaí to 15,000.
"I would like to challenge the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, to a public debate on the issue of crime in this country. We have had all the strong and the soft talk from the Government, but very little is happening in the communities."
The Fine Gael leader said there would be no increase in personal, corporate or capital taxes.
He accepted that first-time house buyers faced enormous problems and said Fine Gael would abolish stamp duty on second-hand houses up to €450,000 for first-time buyers.
Minister for Communications Noel Dempsey responded by saying that Mr Kenny's interview exposed the "total lack of substance" in the Fine Gael alternative.
"The Fine Gael leader told us he had no problem with private healthcare, yet then went on to falsely claim that the removal of 1,000 private beds from public hospitals was privatisation," he said.
"In relation to crime, Enda Kenny was just as unconvincing, calling for the expansion of the gardaí to 15,000 by the middle of 2012. This Government has already committed to an increase of Garda numbers to 15,000 by the end of 2009."
Mr Dempsey also said the Fine Gael leader had no substantive proposals on the economy.
