Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny yesterday said people were "tired" of waiting for the general election and they were "tired and jaded of this Government".
Mr Kenny, on a tour of Kerry South constituency, was responding to strong speculation that Taoiseach Bertie Ahern would call the election yesterday.
"People are tired of this Government. They are tired of the smugness, tired of the conceitedness, tired of the arrogance, tired of the failure to deliver on public services," Mr Kenny said. It was time for real change and for a Government of new energy and the change would not be about the trappings of office, he said.
Fine Gael was ready for the election and had 20,000 canvassers ready to be unleashed.
He was speaking in Killarney where he opened a new Fine Gael general election campaign office. It was his third visit to the Kerry South constituency since December and the party is hoping to regain the seat they last held in 1989.
Fine Gael are running two candidates in the three-seater, which are currently held by Fianna Fáil, Labour and Independent TD Jackie Healy-Rae.
West Kerry county councillor and Údarás na Gaeltachta member Séamus Cosaí Fitzgerald, a farmer, is contesting the election for Fine Gael for the second time. His running mate is Tom Sheahan, a Killarney area councillor and Rathmore-based businessman.
Asked about proposed health insurance reforms, Mr Kenny said Minister for Health Mary Harney needed to come into the Dáil and explain exactly what she intended to do so that everybody could understand the implications of what she was talking about in her proposals for serious change at short notice.
The changes were being proposed in the days before the Dáil collapses and a serious and complicated change in health insurance needed Dáil debate and public debate, he said.
Ms Harney spent the last three years defending risk equalisation, saying this was the ultimate way forward for health insurance, Mr Kenny said.
"The Barrington report comes in and now she says she wants it changed. I think there needs to be a thorough explanation here and a thorough discussion about this, particularly in respect of the implications it has for consumers." He said there needed to be a debate on the changes so the public could understand the cost implications.
Asked about reported differences between Labour and Fine Gael on the question of legalisation of abortion, Mr Kenny said his position was that he was not in favour of legislation for abortion.
However, this was not an issue that he would need to address with Labour prior to the election.
The parties had set out agreed proposals in three areas: on the economy, health and policing. This was the first time in the history of the State this had been done by major parties so far in advance of the general election. "I was asked a question about abortion and I answered the question by saying that I am not in favour of legislating for abortion."
Mr Kenny also said he did not support moving central policy units of Government departments out of Dublin, but would allow to stand the move already undertaken by a small number of departments, as in the case of the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism to Killarney.