Fianna Fáil has fought a credible and straight-up campaign and will be fighting for every vote until polling day, party leader Micheál Martin said today.
In the final press conference of the campaign, Mr Martin renewed his criticism of Fine Gael’s ‘five-point plan’ and said the final televised debate between party leaders had exposed serious flaws in it.
“The five-point plan is full of black holes, ill-thought out ideas and poll-tested policies that are designed to win votes and not solve the serious problems we face today,” he said.
In a concession that his party would be going into opposition, Mr Martin said his campaign was more that what happens in the polling stations on Friday. “I am committed to renewing Fianna Fáil at every level, from the grassroots to the parliamentary party,” he said.
He was asked why notwithstanding strong performances by him in the series of televised debates, it had led to no discernible impact in opinion polls. “Debates are about the issues and the policies. There should have been more debate,” he said. “The [most important aspect] is that it concentrates on policies and issues. It’s not just for election campaign, it’s for afterwards. We have put down important markers in relation to the future.”
When it was put to him that the change of leadership within Fianna Fáil five weeks ago had made no difference, he said the party had put forward a very credible platform and it had made a difference with its canvassers around the country.
He disagreed with the suggestion that he had been overly aggressive in the three-way debate. “Clearly it was two against one last night. I felt it was important to ask the hard questions to Enda Kenny. … You had to go in hard in that respect. I was firm and forceful,” he said.
He said that one subject not touched on in the debate was political reform. He said that there had been an important admission by the Fine Gael legal team in the past week that the party was not in a position to abolish the Seanad in the next few years.
He claimed that this was a cynical move by Fine Gael as its representation in the Seanad would boost party funding by €4 million. “For every Senator you have, you get a proportion of party funding,” he said.
Asked about the post-election scenario, Mr Martin outlined the need for the renewal of the party in the future.
“Our representation in Seanad Éireann will have to be addressed. …We also need to make the opportunity for bringing forward a lot of young people. There are a lot of young women out there….Every local election ticket should have somebody under 25 running.”