FF achievements: Fianna Fáil has remained "extraordinarily united" over the last 10 years and will remain so into the general election campaign, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has declared.
"That does not mean that we don't have differences or constituency views. But if we want things done we have to be coherent. That is not to smother people's points of view."
He emphasised that the election would not take place "for nine months". This could, theoretically, push the holding of the election into late June.
Mr Ahern was speaking yesterday at the end of the first day of a two-day meeting of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party in Westport, Co Mayo.
He said Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats had formed the first coalition administration to be re-elected and last two full terms. "That requires a fair bit of dedication and effort, but the country is benefiting from it. Sometimes it is a bit boring, but it is good for the country."
He refused to consider any other coalition options for Fianna Fáil. "I gave [the Opposition] a minute in my opening speech here. I probably gave them half a minute too long.
"The people will decide next summer what they believe should be the formulation of the government. I have set out my own views. I am not going to spend the autumn, the spring and winter just repeating that. I am just going to get on with my own job," he told journalists.
Backbenchers, he said, had spent several months deliberating on new policies, which would now contribute to Fianna Fáil's general election manifesto.
He dismissed suggestions that Fianna Fáil would suffer because the Progressive Democrats were in charge of the Departments of Health and Justice.
"I head a Government that is a collective Government. Everybody works together. The one thing that I do not allow is people thinking that they have personal fiefdoms. These are Government policies, collectively agreed."
Asked about a series of poor opinion poll results for Fianna Fáil, Mr Ahern said: "I don't have the resources to do many opinion polls, so I have to accept them in the absence of anything else."
He said voters would be given promises by Fianna Fáil that would be fully costed "unlike the Opposition, who can't even get the anniversary of their Mullingar meeting right".
Emphasising that the election battle has already started, he said: "Every day I get up I try to make a difference. I try to do things that benefit the country. Every day there is another challenge.
"I don't say that we will start next February or next March. I am, like you, paid for every day, and I give it my best every day."
Given the list of the Government's own-claimed achievements, Mr Ahern was asked to explain why voters had Fianna Fáil at just 35 per cent in the polls.
"I would say that there are two million people working. There used to be one million. Unemployment is half the European average. Economic growth is one of the highest in the world.
"The Irish people are demanding and they want to keep up the pressure. But I have been in politics for 30 years and I have not seen easier times. I don't want to go back to the days of dole queues. During my political lifetime I have seen that change."
