The Labour leader, Pat Rabbitte, has promised to keep taxes down if his party is in government and to improve public services by getting rid of waste.
In his keynote address to the Labour Party conference last night, Mr Rabbitte said both Fianna Fáil and the PDs must be removed from government and replaced by parties with fresh ideas, in touch with the needs of families and communities.
At Labour's last conference, delegates had overwhelmingly backed Mr Rabbitte's desire for a pre-election pact with Fine Gael.
This year, the Labour leader repeated his view that both the Government parties must be removed from office. He said they were like watching a bad week of Big Brother, and it was time to vote them out.
The theme of his address was that Ireland can do better, but not at the cost of higher taxes. He said what was needed was fair taxation, rather than more taxation, and that Labour in Government would adhere to fiscal and economic discipline.
Mr Rabbitte proposed a five-point plan to tackle problems in health - more beds, clean hospitals, local care where possible, an end to tax breaks for private clinics in public hospitals, and a change in funding to let money follow the patient.
He said Labour supports social partnership, but in a warning to public sector unions he said nothing should stand in the way of clearing the driving test backlog.
The Labour leader also promised to tackle educational disadvantage, invest in community policing, and restore the Freedom of Information Act.
Above all, he said, the party would work with Fine Gael to offer the voters an alternative government.
