Fine Gael is planning a personalised attack against the Government and a number of Ministers as part of a new year billboard campaign in advance of the general election, it has been confirmed.
The party has booked hundreds of sites around the country at a cost of more than €200,000 for the posters, which will be focusing on the Government's record on health, crime, and possibly transport.
Some of the posters will include photographs of Ministers identified by Fine Gael as the most unpopular using market research techniques including focus group research.
However, the party last night denied the campaign was part of a "negative campaign" strategy, a tactic which has been highly successful in the United States.
The party has already decided to include photos of Tánaiste and Minister for Justice Michael McDowell in a mock Government poster with the headline "Everything is Great", accompanying statistics which claim murder, rape and gun crime have all risen.
The list of Ministers to be targeted has yet to be finalised, but the party is also considering a similar poster using the image of Minister for Health Mary Harney and selected statistics on the health service.
The party is also understood to be considering posters on transport, or Government waste, possibly using the image of Minister for Transport Martin Cullen, although these are seen as less likely.
The poster campaign comes in advance of what Fine Gael is billing as a series of "town hall" meetings across the country involving party leader Enda Kenny, in a public debate on issues such as health and crime.
Overt campaigns targeting political opponents are extremely rare in Irish politics.