Noonan tells voters that election not over

The Fine Gael leader has made a plea to the electorate not to regard a Fianna Fáil (FF) victory in the General Election as a foregone conclusion.

Mr Michael Noonan was speaking this afternoon in response to an opinion poll that put his party’s support at a mere 20 per cent, less than half of FF’s 49 per cent.

"I am telling the voters of Ireland that this is not over," he insisted. "In the words of John Bruton, the people must not allow themselves be sleepwalked into believing it is all over and that there is no alternative to a Fianna Fáil-led government".

"Fianna Fáil took [the people of Ireland] for granted in the Nice Treaty and the abortion referendum." he said. "Well, they were beaten, and beaten well."

"We are not going to beat them on our own, but I know several other parties who are equally committed to getting Fianna Fáil out of office."

However, when accused by a journalist of running a lacklustre, passionless campaign until now, Mr Noonan retorted: "At the risk of being misunderstood, I have extremely passionate around the country for the past two weeks."

He listed three alternatives open to the public: a Fianna Fáil government, a Fianna Fáil-led coalition or a Fine Gael-led coalition.

The first option was dismissed, with Mr Noonan laying the blame for the economic hardship suffered by Ireland in the 1980s squarely on the shoulders of the last Fianna Fáil single-party government in the 1970s.

Secondly, a watchdog in the form of a smaller party was simply not strong enough to rein in the "sleaze of Fianna Fáil". Despite the efforts of Mr Des O’Malley - "a good man and honest politician" - and the Progressive Democrats, the partnership failed to prevent the "corruption and sleaze now being exposed in Dublin Castle", Mr Noonan claimed.

He said the watchdog notion similarly failed to prevent the "total recklessness in public expenditure" seen during Mr Ahern and Ms Harney’s term in office, which he claimed has resulted in €35 million per day more running the country than the Rainbow Coalition.

Mr Noonan asserted that his personal choice would be a partnership with the Labour Party. He has "regular contact" with Mr Ruairí Quinn, and saw a "significant overlap" in many of the two parties’ policies, allowing room for debate.

He also said that Fine Gael would cut public spending by 10 per cent over Fianna Fáil estimates if elected.

Mr Noonan said Fianna Fáil’s forecasts for public spending of up to 22 per cent of GDP was unrealistic and would "wreck the ecomony".

He said Fine Gael would budget for public services investment of 2 per cent on top of nominal growth, estimated at 7 to 8 per cent annually by the Central Bank.