FG leader:The public's anger with the Government about public services is "palpable" on the streets, according to Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny.
Canvassing in Kildare South and North yesterday, Mr Kenny said the discontent of voters was present during the 2004 European Parliament and local elections.
"The mood was very palpable on the streets before those elections. It is actually stronger now," said Mr Kenny in Naas. "It isn't just about change for change's sake, nor is it about revolutionary change. It is about doing things better and having the answers and demonstrating whether this country can actually work.
"When you sit down and ask people, 'Are you better off than you were 10 years ago?', invariably, most of them will say yes. When you probe the things that are upsetting they are the things in which Government is involved, essentially public services."
Commenting on the traffic chaos that left thousands of Dublin-bound commuters with two-hour delays yesterday on the N7 route, Mr Kenny said: "There were no gardaí in sight, no Traffic Corps, no council officials. A man going from Newcastle into Dublin took 2½ hours. It is simply ludicrous. This is where the Government is involved. They want rid of them."
Supporting calls on Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to make a full statement about his personal finances, Mr Kenny said: "I don't have the details. If there are questions they should be asked of him. If he decides not to answer any questions before the tribunal goes off and hears these things in due course, then people will have to make up their own minds about that."
He made it clear that he would not force Mr Ahern's finances to the top of the political agenda.
"I said in the beginning that I did not want to get deflected from the business of this election. The real issues out here are lack of public services, the failure of the Government to stand by its promises and to give value for people's money.
"That is where the issues are. They are all over the place, every one of them. I have just been speaking to a woman whose niece spent 48 hours in Tallaght hospital waiting for a bed in Beaumont and died.
"That is where the issues are. We had a case with a woman whose pregnant daughter who went to her doctor and was told that there was a baby's heartbeat only to learn later that the child was dead for eight weeks. "The certificate showed that the doctor detected the child's heartbeat. When questioned later, he said, 'Well, sometimes we make a mistake in mixing up the mother's pulse from the baby's heart'."
Mr Kenny met an often warm response from many voters during canvassing in Kildare, Naas, Clane, Celbridge, Maynooth and Leixlip, though he was not recognised by all of them.
However, one of the party's Kildare North candidates, Naas-based councillor Darren Scully said: "You can always spot the Fianna Fáilers. They are the ones who always pretend that they have never seen him before."
Mr Kenny will canvass in Louth and Cavan-Monaghan today, when he will meet the Monaghan Hospital Action Group at Monaghan hospital and visit Cavan hospital.
