BATTLE lines have been drawn for a general election campaign, with Ms Mary Harney confirming her support for a Fianna Fail/Progressive Democrats government and Mr Proinsias De Rossa backing a Fine Gael/Labour Party/ Democratic Left pact.
As preparations for Wednesday's Budget near completion, all parties are honing their pre election strategies, and there is increasing evidence that a contest will be held before midsummer. In that regard, the Cabinet last week directed Ministers to give priority to their legislative programmes.
The Government Chief Whip, Mr Jim Higgins, is due to report back to Cabinet this week on the "Bills that must become law before an election is held. Those to be given precedence will probably include bail legislation the electoral Bill, the freedom of information Bill, the finance Bill, the social welfare Bill and equal status and education Bills.
A Government spokesman said it was prepared to hold extended Dail sittings over the next few months to clear its legislative programme.
When the election is called, the Government parties are set to deny Fianna Fail vital preferential votes by arranging for a formal voting pact between Fine Gael, the Labour Party and Democratic Left. The parties will campaign on a programme agreed by the party leaders, loosely based on Partnership 2000.
While details have yet to be agreed, the Minister for Social Welfare and Democratic Left leader, Mr De Rossa, yesterday said their vision would embrace "the creation of a prosperous, fair and safe society, where people can confidently walk the streets".
The Progressive Democrats party has rejected the notion of a formal electoral pact with Fianna Fail, because it could suggest a dilution of its policies and undermine the chance of attracting preferential transfers from Fine Gael.
The party leader, Ms Harney said yesterday that while a Fianna Fail/Progressive Democrats government was the most likely outcome of the election, she would not be interested in power unless "some of the distinctive policies of the Progressive Democrats were included".
She was not interested in holding any particular position - such as Tanaiste - within such a government. And the most difficult, problem facing the Progressive Democrats, after the election, would be in negotiating a new programme for government, she said.
Advocating re election of the present Government on RTE's This Week programme, Mr De Rossa said the electorate would have to choose between "an inherently unstable government involving Fianna Fail and the Progressive Democrats, which would attack our health, social welfare and education services and bring the country to the right or a continuation of the policies of the present Coalition".
Democratic Left will hold its party conference in April. Mr De Rossa said it hoped to win 10 seats in the general election with the help of an election pact between the three Government parties.
Meanwhile, the deputy leader of Fianna Fail, Ms Mary O'Rourke, accused the Government of failing to deal comprehensively with long term unemployment. The latest results from the Labour Force Survey showed that Government policies were not working, the party's spokeswoman on enterprise and employment said, and she asked that increased financial resources be provided for Local Employment Services schemes.
Last month's live register showed that 134,324 people were now categorised as long term unemployed, an increase of 1,000 on 1994. We had the highest rate of long term unemployment within the OECD, she said, and the opportunity to tackle this problem in the Budget could not be missed.
A Labour Party Minister of State, Ms Joan Burton, attacked the Progressive Democrats' economic policies as "neither progressive nor democratic" but aimed at "promoting a greedy self interest response". Attitude surveys had consistently highlighted employment, education and health care as priorities far above taxation in the minds of voters, she said, and there was "a deep consciousness that social investment is a vital ingredient of prosperity".
President Bill Clinton had learned that lesson against Bob Dole and had fought his election campaign on the basis that the current generation was in a "we", as distinct from a "me", mood.
"The 1997 election will be fought here on the same theme," Ms Burton said. "Labour's commitment will be to economic growth and a fair distribution of its fruits. The PDs, true to type, will reject this social emphasis and, as voters recognise this, the first wrinkles will appear on the smooth face they present to the country."
Last night a Progressive Democrats TD, Ms Ma inn Quill, called on the Minister for Finance to increase the level of, payment to every pensioner by £5 a week. Today's healthy economy wa$ a result of the hard work and effort put in by all pensioners over the years, she said, and the cost of the increase would only come to £32 million in 1997.
The Fianna Fail spokesman on social welfare, Mr Joe Walsh, said it was essential that a flat rate increase be given to the have nots in the Budget, rather than a percentage increase.
Mr Dan Boyle, the Green Party spokesman on finance and social welfare, said tax reform and the low wage level at which workers became liable to income tax should be priorities in the Budget. The Minister should increase personal tax allowances by £300 for each of the next five years so that personal tax allowances would eventually be on a par with the standard rate of social welfare, he, said.