The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern has addressed a rally of TDs, supporters and canvassers at Fianna Fáil headquarters in Dublin this afternoon.
Mr Ahern attacked the Fine Gael contract on areas such as Garda numbers, hospital beds and free GP care for the under fives, saying Ireland won't be fooled by promises and posters.
He appealed to FF party members to canvass hard and to put in the greatest effort Fianna Fáil has done in modern times to maximise the party vote over the next four days and win the election.
He said every house that is canvassed can make the difference between this country going forward or the country going backwards.
Meanwhile, the Taoiseach has said he believes a campaign against him personally was launched during the run up to the General Election.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio's This Week, he said reporting by large sections of the media was unbalanced for the first ten days of the election campaign.
He said some journalists were hostile to Fianna Fáil irrespective of what it said during news conferences.
Mr Ahern said he was glad the election was now being fought on real issues.
He added that he would return to questions of a campaign against him and leaks about his personal life and finances another day and would have much to say about it.
He said that personal issues of people close to him had been treated ‘appallingly’ and ‘abysmally’ by some during the campaign.
