FF leadership:Bertie Ahern will remain Taoiseach "for as long as he wishes" into the next Dáil term if Fianna Fáil retains power, Minister for Finance Brian Cowen has said.
Asked if Mr Ahern would step down 12 or 18 months after an election victory, Mr Cowen said: "He will be our nominee for taoiseach, and we hope he will be elected taoiseach.
"And he will remain taoiseach for as long as he wishes. The people of this country know that and they will be voting for him continuing as their leader for the foreseeable future."
Mr Ahern has repeatedly said that he would retire from full-time politics at 60, regardless of whether he is still Taoiseach, which would mean by September 12th, 2011.
However, his replacement would require a longer period than that to bed down as Fianna Fáil leader before facing the electorate, assuming that the Dáil runs for a full five-year term.
Although clearly pleased by The Irish Times/TNS mrbi opinion poll, which found that the party is up five percentage points, Fianna Fáil yesterday deliberately sought to downplay the findings.
"The real poll is on Thursday. It is the only one that counts. We have seen trends. We have seen ups and we have seen downs. We have been talking about the issues. We want to talk about what a government does, not about who is in the government," Mr Cowen said.
He was accompanied at yesterday's Fianna Fáil press conference by Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Micheál Martin.
"While it is good for morale, nobody suggests otherwise, but you could point to three other polls. These are snapshots. I think it indicates that since we got down to the issues, and we have only got to the issues in the last 10 days, in my opinion, because of other distractions, the fact of the matter is that people are . . . coming to the view that this party has managed the affairs of the country well with the Progressive Democrats," Mr Cowen said.
"The big picture is overall going in the right direction," he added.
He was asked if he would urge Fianna Fáil supporters, who may be annoyed at the Progressive Democrats for their attitude towards Mr Ahern's personal finances, to give them transfers anyway.
"Yes, to try and re-elect the Government would be a good idea given the progress that we have made in the last 10 years. And they are regarded by us as our first preference for partners in government.
"We don't speculate beyond that. People have to make a decision about what is the best prospect for a stable outcome," he said.
While insisting that major social improvements have been brought about, Mr Cowen acknowledged that there "have been shortcomings".
"That is in the nature of government trying to do its business. But we have got an awful lot more right than wrong. People are coming to the perspective that we provide the best prospect of continuing with that," he said.
