Analysis: The party leader is seeking to position Fine Gael as the party of traditional Middle Ireland, reports Mark Brennock, Chief Political Correspondent
Honesty, trust, public service, patriotism, law and order, rights and responsibilities, courage, duty, national interest, community, integrity, standards, pluralism, decency. The buzz words designed to evoke the essence of what Fine Gael saw itself standing for in its heyday came as a torrent during Enda Kenny's half-hour speech in Galway on Saturday night.
Mr Kenny's appeal was for a move back to basics, to the traditional Fine Gael heartland. It was an appeal to "the vast, the silent majority. The quiet forgotten people of this country who work hard, rear their children, pay their taxes, contribute to their community, who still believe in the higher ideals, who balance their rights with their responsibilities."
It was an appeal to middle Ireland, the coping classes - the kind of people who used to vote Fine Gael but some of whom now vote PD and even Fianna Fail.
In social and economic terms the position Mr Kenny laid out was what the British call compassionate conservatism. He stressed the need for enterprise, economic competitiveness and rewarding entrepreneurs, while insisting on educational equality, the rebuilding of the sense of community and an Ireland with the family -"in all its modern forms" - at its heart.
He painted his vision in broad brush strokes. On the family, for example, he detailed problems such as that of finding affordable childcare. But apart from an implication that Fine Gael might reverse the income tax individualisation policy of this Government ("the forced labour of many parents in the workforce"), there were few specific proposals.
A key theme was standards in government. This Government was one of "rank expediency and self-serving pragmatism". Fine Gael would show that "politicians are not all the same". It was the party of courage, duty, honesty and truth. The current lot "don't tell the truth and cronyism is alive and well".
He majored on the traditional Fine Gael theme of law and order too. There was some hyperbole, such as when he told us we had "streets that are unsafe at any hour of the day or night" and "organised crime threatening our democracy and our State". Fine Gael wanted an Ireland "with not just plenty of law, but plenty of order".
He railed against educational inequality. "I think of all those children living in estates named after our dead patriots - Wolfe Tone, Davitt and our own Michael Collins - who will have to be twice as intelligent, twice as determined, twice as talented and dedicated to do even half as well as their better-off counterparts." He broached the subject of who else would be in a Fine Gael-led government. This has been a delicate subject for past Fine Gael leaders, as any time they suggest they will lead a Fine Gael/Labour coalition, Labour people berate them for being presumptuous.
However, Mr Kenny was on safer ground this time, due to Mr Mr Pat Rabbitte's and the Green Party's stated preference to take part in a government excluding Fianna Fail. "There are others who share Fine Gael's commitment to the democratic process," he said. "Particularly the Labour Party. I will work closely with Pat Rabbitte and other like-minded colleagues to persuade the people to use their vote not just for change, but for a better alternative."
It was an unusual political event. Star billing in the sessions throughout the day was given to leaders of interests in civil society rather than to politicians.
In the morning we heard Mr David Begg of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions saying the Government's absolutist opposition to any EU tax harmonisation was short-sighted, because the east European states about to join the Union would beat Ireland hands down in any tax-cutting contest. We heard Mr David Croughan of the Irish Business and Employers' Confederation saying any tax harmonisation would be foolish. Mr Croughan was against any suggestion that Ireland would increase corporation tax. Mr Begg thought we had set the rate unnecessarily low at 12.5 per cent.
Mr John Mark McCafferty of the Society of St Vincent de Paul reminded the party that the poor haven't gone away, you know. Calls to the society seeking assistance were up 94 per cent in the first nine months of this year compared to the same period last year. He spoke of the impact of soaring house purchase and rental costs on the least well-off, and suggested that the income tax base was too narrow.
The Disability Federation, Concern and the Irish Small and Medium Enterprises' Association all pressed their particular cases. The chairman of the Competition Authority, Mr John Fingleton, Mr Felix O'Regan of the Irish Bankers' Federation, heart surgeon Mr Maurice Neligan and Prof Gerry Loftus of the steering group of the Hanly taskforce all spoke.
A spokesman said they had decided to allow members to hear from people who were seeking practical solutions to political problems. The party's task now is to persuade voters they are the politicians who should be elected to implement them.