THE leaders of the three Government parties are expected to meet on April 8th to consider the date of a general election. However, polling day - now expected in late May - will not be revealed until the election is actually called by the Taoiseach, Mr Bruton.
Fine Gael, Labour and Democratic Left will also put in place a voting pact on transfers. Although campaigning for re election as a government, each party is expected to have a separate manifesto. Groups of officials from each of the parties have been meeting to discuss a joint approach to the election.
Programme managers and advisers have supplied to their respective party headquarters and press offices copies of the legislative programmes of each Minister. The three party headquarters have also been working on "briefing notes" for canvassers highlighting their achievements and "the positive results" of their time in office.
This heightened pre election activity has kept TDs and Ministers in their constituencies over Easter and makes it highly unlikely that the Taoiseach will wait until the autumn to seek to dissolve the Dail.
It is understood that the Coalition leaders will focus on the timing of a general election as the Dail resumes after the Easter recess and just days before the Labour Party annual conference in Limerick.
One Coalition source said: "It is clear the Government now has a very good chance of being reelected. There will have to be a voting transfer arrangement because there is little point in having a common platform otherwise."
Meanwhile, signs of disquiet have emerged in the Progressive Democrats following the leadership's announcement that the Fine Gael councillor, Mr Tom Morrissey, will contest the PD convention to select a Dail candidate in Dublin West. The leadership has rejected claims that it acted in a politically improper way in taking the Fine Gael councillor into its ranks.
Speaking at a press conference to formally announce Mr Morrissey's decision to join the PDs and to be a candidate in the selection convention for Dublin West, the party leader, Ms Mary Harney, yesterday said they had not sought Mr Morrissey but that through an intermediary, he had indicated his wish to join.
A Fine Gael spokesman has criticised the Progressive Democrats for taking the councillor away from his old party shortly after he signed "a solemn pledge on selection to contest Dublin West along with the Fine Gael Minister of State, Mr Austin Currie. Fine Gael sources last night suggested Mr Currie's seat could now be jeopardised as a result of the defection because of the loss of Mr Morrissey's transfers.
Discontent at the move was voiced yesterday by a PD councillor in Dublin West, Ms Sheila Terry, who accused Ms Harney of "poor judgment" in the matter. Expressing disappointment "in the way I have been treated", Ms Terry insisted that as a declared candidate in Dublin West she intended to contest the election.
However, when asked about Ms Terry's sense of grievance, Ms Harney said "nobody has been pushed aside". Ms Terry was "an outstanding candidate" but nobody had yet been chosen to fight the election for the party in her constituency and the members there could make up their own minds, she added.
No decision has been made on whether Mr Morrissey would be added to the ticket if he fails to secure the nomination. "I met Sheila Terry before I met Tom Morrissey and I was very open and honest with her," Ms Harney said.
Mr Morrissey said his decision to leave Fine Gael was borne out of his disillusionment with the party's decision to contest the election on an agreed platform with "two parties of the left". He faced "red letter day" last February when, he said, he received an instruction from the Fine Gael general secretary, Mr Jim Miley, not to criticise any Government Minister's decision.
"The decision now, to contest the forthcoming election with Democratic Left as a preferred partner, is not one on which I can honestly face the electorate," Mr Morrissey added.
A Fine Gael spokesman said Mr Miley sent the letter "over a most serious breach" of party discipline. Mr Morrissey had accused Mr Currie and the Minister of State, Ms Joan Burton, of reckless rezoning of lands at Blanchardstown Hospital.
Mr Tommy Morris, a former Government special adviser who was involved in the Dublin West by election contested by Mr Morrissey, said he had always been "a maverick". His defection to the PDs might even enhance Fine Gael in doubling its efforts in the constituency for the general election he said.