Labour says FF may not secure extra TDs

Increased percentage vote does not always translate into extra TDs and five years ago Fianna Fáil got an incredibly "lucky bounce in terms of seats", the Labour Party leader said this morning.

Speaking at the party's final press briefing before voters go to the polls, Mr Ruairí Quinn said Labour had set the agenda for this campaign by being the first party to admit borrowing would be necessary to support investment in public services.

Insisting that no-one had the right to pre-empt the result, Mr Quinn said: "The mood of the public doesn’t stop two days out [from polling] - it changes right through, up to and including polling day.

"We know what the polls are telling us but we also know that people are dynamic," he said.

Mr Quinn criticised the head-to-head debate between Fine Gael leader Michael Noonan and Fianna Fáil leader Mr Bertie Ahern last night.

"A lot of the issues simply weren’t touched and when they were touched there wasn’t that much difference between the two party leaders. They were arguing over details and figures rather than the basic thrust of what we want to do with our society."

A more representative format would have been a debate between all the party political leaders early in the campaign - a suggestion vetoed by Fianna Fáil, he said.