The Taoiseach will tell party members today that avoiding a major electoral reverse next year is in their hands and he will warn of difficult Government decisions before the economic problems are over.
In a speech last night on the eve of today's Fianna Fáil ardfheis in Killarney, Mr Ahern acknowledged public dissatisfaction with the Coalition but pledged to govern "to secure the long-term future of our people, not for short-term popularity".
This morning, in an implicit recognition that "short-term popularity" may not be available soon, he is expected to tell members that Fianna Fáil's prospects in next year's local and European elections depend on their own efforts.
He will urge them to campaign in every community in the State for candidates to effectively compensate for the party's current poor standing in national opinion polls.
While the Government believes it will achieve results in road and rail building, health reform and other areas before the next general election, there is serious concern among party members that this will not happen in time to ensure recovery before next year's elections.
In his speech last night, Mr Ahern pledged not to be deflected from its long-term strategy by the pursuit of short-term popularity.
"No one is going to thank us if we let public spending out of control and drag this country back into economic oblivion," he said.
While acknowledging the current public discontent, Mr Ahern also cast doubt on whether there was a viable alternative to a Fianna Fáil led government. He was speaking to a pre-ardfheis meeting of south Kerry party activists.
With the party hoping to use today's one-day event to boost morale in advance of next year's elections, the Taoiseach said his Government had taken knocks during a "tough" year, paying the price "for genuine difficult decisions".
However, recent unpopularity would not deflect them from their programme.
"We are not going to lose our nerve," he said.
Ministers will outline their achievements and plans to delegates throughout today.
There are no formal motions but contentious issues such as the planned smoking ban in the workplace may emerge during question-and-answer sessions with ministers.
In an implicit criticism of the ability of the Opposition to produce an alternative government, Mr Ahern said last night that "Fianna Fáil is Ireland's only credible, stable political force.
"We are the party that has turned this country around in the past and the only party that can keep it on track for the future."
Mr Ahern blamed the state of the international economy for much of the Coalition's problems.
"We are in the midst of a global economic downturn and it is unrealistic to expect Ireland to be immune from that," he said.
He pledged to press ahead with difficult reforms in the health sector, the public sector and the environment.
He said he would "tackle the reform of services with the same vigour and commitment we brought to the area of taxation".
Recognising the changed state of the public finances, he said reform rather than simply providing more money was the answer to the challenges in health, education, pensions and social welfare.
"We do not want our success to be judged only on our capacity to invest money in public services but also on our ability to take the hard decisions to reform them."
He said the Government would not renege on the promised benchmarking payments to public servants.
They would account for €1.1 billion this year but Fianna Fáil was determined to ensure this led to real improvements in public services.
Benchmarking "provides a strong incentive" in this regard, he said.
The aim of health service reform was to "match money and modernisation" and this could not be achieved overnight.
It required detailed planning and the effort and good will of everyone working in the system.
The future regulation of business must be done in a way which ensures "Irish businesses are not put at a disadvantage when competing in the global marketplace while at the same time ensuring that consumers' interests are protected".
The Government's "get tough" approach to illegal dumping was "about to get even tougher" with the establishment of the Office for Environmental Enforcement, he said.