Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin began his party's election campaign today by highlighting weaknesses in the policies of his main rivals.
Speaking at the party's election campaign launch in Dublin this morning, Mr Martin claimed there was disunity between Fine Gael and Labour on a number of key issues and said Ireland could not afford a "tug of war Government".
Mr Martin also warned the rise of Sinn Féin poses a threat to the country and to the economy. His comments come after the publication of a new poll which shows increased support for Sinn Féin.
Speaking about the poll results, Mr Martin said he expected support for Fianna Fáil to rise as the election progressed.
"For the first time Labour Party and Fine Gael policies will be open to its first serious scrutiny and I think their plans will collapse as a result of that scrutiny (and) I believe we have great candidates out their in the field who will maximise our vote in the local constituencies," he said.
Mr Martin highlighted the differences between the two main opposition parties in areas such as taxation. He also accused Fine Gael and Labour of putting forward "false promises" about renegotiating the EU-IMF bailout deal.
He called on Labour leader Eamon Gilmore to stop "pretending" he could postpone the corrections to 2016. “The only way either the interest rate or the stability fund itself or the framework changes is on a European-wide basis, it has to be a collective approach. It won’t be down to one or two countries," Mr Martin said.
Mr Martin said he understood the electorate were angry about the situation the country finds itself in but claimed the Opposition had avoided making the hard decisions required to get the economy back on track. He also called for a new kind of election campaign which would focus on policies rather than politicians. "Anger will not solve the problems we face," he said. "People are suffering but the only way to a better future is to honestly address the challenge and not make things worse with conflicting policies and empty promises."
Mr Martin warned about supporting Sinn Féin, whose economic policies, he claimed, pose a serious threat to the country and its future.
"If their economic policies were implemented it would have devastating implications for jobs and for the actual running of our economy," he said. "Rather than being fixated on how many seats Sinn Féin are going to win there's a more serious issue here. People need to be more fixated on the content of Sinn Féin's social and economic policies and how credible they are and what impact and consequences would flow from them."
Mr Martin was also critical of comments made by the former Labour leader Pat Rabbitte about his new frontbench yesterday which he said were offensive and dismissive of women.
Fianna Fáil is to launch it's election manifesto on Monday and would also begin a series of more targeted economic initiatives with specific plans for every major sector of the economy.
