It is not inevitable that the current Government will be returned to power in the general election, a senior Fianna Fáil TD has said.

Éamon Ó Cuív said the media was talking “as if this election is over”.

“It is only beginning and the people will have to make a choice whether they want more of the same, which is their right, or whether they want change.’’

Opening the 77th Fianna Fáil ardfheis in Dublin on Saturday, Mr Ó Cuív said his party would publish a rural development policy within the next two weeks.

This would include a commitment to provide an adequate broadband service to every house and business in the country, he added.

The Galway West TD accused the Government of abandoning rural Ireland.

“I need not tell you about the attack on Garda stations, schools, teachers, community welfare officers,’’ he added. “They tried to move anything that moved in rural Ireland into the towns and the cities.’’

Defending the decentralisation scheme introduced by a Fianna Fáil-led government, he insisted it worked.

“I think of a place like Clifden, with 40 jobs, working absolutely perfectly,’’ he added.

“That is the best factory that town ever got and it is replicated all over the country.’’

The one-day ardfheis will conclude on Saturday night with a televised address to delegates by party leader Micheál Martin.

Minister for Health Leo Varadkar on Saturday warned against returning Fianna Fáil to power. He said the party could not be trusted to manage the economy.

“Fianna Fáil brought this country to the brink of collapse, wasting years of prosperity and then mis-managing the crisis when it came,” the Fine Gael TD said. “They are a real risk to the recovery and now is no time for risk taking.”