FG rally:Despite indifferent showings in the opinion polls, Opposition leader Enda Kenny insisted yesterday the Fine Gael-Labour alliance would still win the election.
"I have been confident of victory for quite some time. A real catalyst in this election has been the alliance with the Labour Party," he told reporters at the start of a Fine Gael march and rally in Dublin yesterday.
Asked about Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's declaration that coalition with Labour was still an option for him, Mr Kenny said: "I would say to the leader of Fianna Fáil: 'Dream on, baby'."
Mr Kenny said he would be happy to talk to the Greens, if necessary, about coalition: "I already said on a number of occasions, were I asked for a preference after the election between the Greens and the PDs, I made my view known very clearly that that would be the Greens. Their stated political objective is to change the Government, whereas the PDs have now married themselves completely, lock, stock and barrel, to the Government."
He did not believe Fianna Fáil when they said they would not go into government with Sinn Féin. Asked about possible Fine Gael involvement in coalition with Sinn Féin, he said: "No, we will not be in government with Sinn Féin."
Accompanied by his wife Fionnuala, Mr Kenny led his followers down Grafton Street to a rally at Meeting House Square in Temple Bar. The parade was headed by a steel band, Masamba, fronted by Simeon Smith, wearing rings in his ears, lips, eyebrows and nose.
Introducing Dublin South East candidate Lucinda Creighton, party vice-president Gerry O'Connell told the cheering crowd: "We have a massive opportunity to deliver the type of political beheading that was done when [British Tory] Michael Portillo met his merry fate in 1997. We have an opportunity to give one of the greatest thorns in our side the P45 on Friday. May I present to you the person who will be relieving Michael McDowell of his Dáil seat next Friday."
Mr Kenny told the rally: "The morning after the Kenny-Rabbitte government takes office, all of those ministers are going to be wheeled in and they are going to set down their targets and their objectives. They will be told, there will be no messing with this government, because their remit and their mandate will be to deliver on the agreed objectives of the government in the interests of the public."
Earlier in the day, Mr Kenny launched his party's youth manifesto, with proposals for free health insurance for under-16s. Fine Gael plans to double the allocation to €10 million for psychiatric services for young people "and increase the amount of counselling services by 50 per cent".