Fianna Fáil has indicated that efforts to reform the party and refresh its "stale" image after the poor performance in the June elections will concentrate on urban areas.
In a development seen as an implicit recognition of the increasing electoral threat from the community-based activism of Sinn Féin, members of the ad hoc group set up to review Fianna Fáil's structures said the party had to be seen to listen more to the community.
One TD who was at the meeting suggested that this would involve a turn away from the right-wing image of the current coalition with the PDs.
Mr Billy Kelleher said Fianna Fáil stood for economic success in "a very modern, vibrant Ireland". However he added that the party aimed to show it was "caring and understanding of the concerns of people who maybe can't help themselves and who need assistance".
Mr Kelleher also said the party aimed to create a set of values that would appeal to young people and one that they would "buy into".
He added: "Certainly there is less interest in politics out there in the public. That's a simple fact when you've a strong healthy economy, a lot of young people are not excited by politics are we're just looking at ways and means of making ourselves more interesting to young people in particular."
While Mr Kelleher accepted that the party's image may have gone "stale", he insisted that the reform of the party's organisation was not a knee-jerk reaction to its poor results in the local and European elections.
He said Fianna Fáil had to establish an immediate presence in the new estates which had grown around commuter-belt towns "as opposed to going into them in 10 or 15 years time".
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, was among several senior party figures who attended the first meeting of the group in Dublin yesterday.
He made no public comment and entered and left the meeting in the Merrion Hotel, Dublin, by the car-park door. The text of his address to the group was not released.
The Fianna Fáil general secretary, Mr Seán Dorgan, recognised that the party had work to do in urban areas. "We are urban and rural but I think we need to look at all aspects. I mean certainly we have challenges in urban areas, undoubtedly, as we saw in the local elections," he said.
"What we are very, very clear on - the demographics of this country have changed over the last 10 to 20 years significantly and what we need to do is ensure that where the population densities are, Fianna Fáil is as well."
Mr John Moloney TD said it would be "foolish" to ignore the threat Fianna Fáil faced from Sinn Féin, but said there was no point in becoming "hung up" on the question.
He said the group aimed to make Fianna Fáil more obvious in each electoral area and draw in more younger professionals.