By Paddy Clancy

FIANNA Fail has given a clear hint that its general election campaign for votes will center on who has the greatest credibility.

Fianna Fail said it will focus on persuading the electorate that the party and leader Taoiseach Bertie Ahern are the only realistic choice for government.

Fianna Fail, which holds its Ard Fheis (annual national conference) this weekend, launched a scathing attack on Tuesday on opposition policies which it claimed couldn’t possibly be realized.

Social and Family Affairs Minister Seamus Brennan said Fianna Fail would not be matching “the unprecedented scale of promises” made by the opposition.

Speaking at the launch of details of the program for the Ard Fheis in Dublin, Brennan said promises made by Fine Gael and the Labor Party ahead of the next general election would “bankrupt the country” and to match them would be “reckless.”

He said his party had monitored Fine Gael and Labor for two years and “their commitments were enormous.”

Instead of matching those promises, Fianna Fail in its campaign would remind the public that the economy was central to the country’s success and that it would have to be protected as “without that everything else would come to nought.”

The minister said existing policy areas such as Transport 21 aimed at upgrading the national and secondary roads network the National Development Plan, social inclusion, agriculture and children’s health would form the foundation of the party’s election campaign.

He added that Ahern and Finance Minister Brian Cowen would also lay out costed policy positions “in plenty of time” for the election.

Brennan said the party was taking “nothing for granted” ahead of the election as “nobody has the right to be in power without a clear and fresh mandate from the Irish people.”

However, clearly claiming Fianna Fail credit for the Celtic Tiger boom, he also said the party would be pointing out to every single voter in the land that Ireland has had “10 years of solid economic progress and economic development.”

While not giving anything away on the actual date of the election, Brennan said the party would begin its poster campaign within the next three weeks.

Ireland’s main political parties are expected to spend almost $13 million between them during their official election campaigns, making it the most expensive election in Ireland in history. In the last general election five years ago the parties spent around $9.5 million chasing votes.

Traditionally, Fianna Fail is the biggest spender followed by Fine Gael, the Labor Party, the Progressive Democrats and Sinn Fein.

The vast bulk of spending goes on advertising, posters, stationery and other materials, while about $650,000 is expected to be spent on campaign workers.