Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny tonight asked voters to enter into a five-year contract with him to deliver every election promise during the lifetime of the next government.
Mr Kenny insisted that he would have a moral, democratic and patriotic duty to live up to his side of the corporate-style pact with the electorate.
He claimed that the Taoiseach stood in the same Citywest Hotel in Dublin last week and made 53 promises but that he was giving people just one - the 'Contract for a Better Ireland'.
He told 4,000 delegates and a live TD audience: "After years of cynicism about politics and politicians, after years of deception and broken promises, I believe it's about time a politician stepped up to the line and took responsibility for their actions in government.
"I am that politician. If you enter into this contract with me, you give me a mandate for a better Ireland and I will deliver it. "Having fulfilled this contract, and only having fulfilled this contract, will I stand again, before you, the people of Ireland , and ask you to re-elect me as Taoiseach."
Mr Kenny asked voters to sign the contract if they wanted an immediate hospital bed, free health insurance, free GP visits for children, more gardai on the streets, better accountability in government and an end to wasteful spending.
He pledged to deliver a government of vision and responsibility and in the country's interest. "A government of passion and professionalism. A government that deals with today's problems - and never loses sight of tomorrow's great possibilities," he added to applause.
Mr Kenny referred in his 30-minute speech to his father, Henry Kenny, whose Dáil seat he inherited 1975 and his grandfather, James McGinley, a lighthouse keeper working on the West Coast.
Of his grandfather, he added: "He kept his contract and he used it to look out for people, to make their journey better, to bring them home safely." The Mayo TD reiterated promises to lower income taxes and end stamp duty for first-time buyers.
He referred to the current Coalition's 'wreckage of broken promises' such as waiting times at A&Es which he claimed were a 'national disgrace.' Dublin South East candidate Lucinda Creighton delivered the warm-up speech, a role usually entrusted to a senior frontbench member.
Guests at the event included former leader Alan Dukes and European People's Party leader Wilfred Martens. Fine Gael, which lost 23 seats in 2002, is fielding a total of 91 General Election candidates, 37 of which are running for the first time.
The ardfheis was run under the theme 'For A Better Ireland'. The national gathering is the climax of eight nationwide rallies fronted by Mr Kenny in Carlow, Carrickmacross, Carrick-on-Shannon, Cork, Dublin, Limerick, Castlebar and Mullingar in preparation for the general election.