The Taoiseach promised more Gardaí, better pensions and increased health spending in his speech at the Fianna Fáil Ard Fheis tonight. He also promised low taxes and tightly controlled public spending if his party is returned to power. The speech was broadcast live on RTÉ Interactive News.
In his main address to the Ard Fheis, Bertie Ahern attacked the record of the Opposition parties and said that if they won the election they would return to the policies of bust and borrowing.
The election may still be two months away but with his Ard Fheis speech the Taoiseach fired the starting gun, outlining his priorities for a second term and attacking the alternative government on offer.
He said that the Rainbow would take Ireland back to the days of massive public borrowing, higher taxes, revolving prison doors, raised waiting lists and inadequate pensions.
He promised an extra 2,000 Gardaí and tougher laws to fight crime, more spending on health and education and an old age pension of €200 a week with a full pension for the stay at home spouse.
On the North, Mr Ahern attacked the politics of confrontation and street protest and called on former revolutionary parties to become strictly democratic with no military wings. He said that Ireland's rejection of the Nice Treaty was unsustainable and promised a European Council declaration that the Treaty poses no threat to Irish neutrality.
And Mr Ahern told his party members that the choice for Ireland in the coming election is a momentous one and urged them to work together to finish the job.
Opening the conference last night, Mr Ahern said that his personal views on abortion had not changed since the rejection of the referendum proposals but that the will of the people must be respected. He also rejected an opposition call for the general election to be called now, repeating that it will be held in May.
