What with the Belfast Agreement, the Amsterdam Treaty, the booming economy, sleaze investigations and much rumour and innuendo during the Government's first year in office, the public focus has been on its achievements, its stability, its personalities and its problems. Fine Gael has been seen as playing a lesser, almost silent role in opposition, while the smaller opposition parties, Labour and Democratic Left, have got their share of attention what with by-election wins, a leadership change and merger talks.
But what of Fine Gael? The perception is that it has been doing little in the present Dail. Its profile has certainly been low, but there are reasons, we are told. Certainly, it doesn't want to peak too soon. Like its colleagues in opposition, it's not keen on a general election until the European and local elections are out of the way next June. It is easier to fight on these two fronts from opposition than from government and a good performance is the perfect launch for a sustained onslaught on the Government from September 1999, provided, of course, some banana-skin hasn't tripped up the FF/PD coalition in the meantime. Also the issues of the past year - the North, the economy and Europe - are ones where bipartisanship has been in order and it's hard for any opposition to make a mark.
In the meantime, Fine Gael is building its strength through a series of initiatives. Each deputy is holding so-called millennium meetings with constituents to discover the concerns of local communities, what they want for the future and what assistance government can give. Information is being fed back to headquarters. The party organisation is also being revamped and candidates are being identified, particularly in the three constituencies where FG has no deputy. Sources say that in this way they will be ready to use the ardfheis next February as a springboard for the June elections.
And anyway, in the past nine months the party has produced at least eight initiatives on issues ranging from the reporting of child sex abuse, to gazumping in house sales, to Dublin traffic and ticket touts. There's also a lot of longterm thinking going on. "The business of opposition in a modern government is more and more complex. It is not straightforward pugilism. We aim to be thoughtful, meaningful and relevant," a source maintains.