The old cliche goes that dogs often end up looking like their owners and, in a similar vein, the Fianna Fáil manifesto shows how the party has developed to reflect the personality of its leader.

Just like Micheál Martin, Fianna Fáil’s election platform is worthy, non-threatening and decent in its intentions but perhaps lacking a killer instinct.

While the party's themes of fairness and an "Ireland for All" are reflected in promises of more investment in services such as health, there are no big ideas or new initiatives to set it apart.

The counter argument is that after the clear failure of policies such as Fine Gael's Universal Health Insurance (UHI), the public do not want big ideas, just competency.

Martin by his nature is a soft centrist and the various policies in the manifesto reflect that but, in time-honoured Fianna Fáil tradition, there are numerous examples of the party having it both ways.

The most obvious is its position on water charges. Fianna Fáil will abolish Irish Water and water charges – but only for five years. The party provided for the introduction of water charges when it negotiated the bailout deal in 2010 but now says it will review the need for charging in 2021.

On another of the bailout levies – the property tax – it at least has arrived at a consistent position. When the Government introduced the property tax, Fianna Fáil said it should be postponed on the basis that many could not afford to pay it.

Overall take

It has now accepted the principle of the tax but says it will legislate to prevent councils increasing the overall take from it in their areas, while still allowing for rates to be decreased.

To his credit, Martin has performed well in recent weeks and brought the issue of public services on to the election agenda in a way Sinn Féin have not.

While it will protest to the contrary, the suspicion remains Fine Gael was spooked into changing tack to emphasise investment in public services because Martin was making political headway with his attacks.

Fianna Fáil’s intention to hire more gardaí, nurses and doctors and increase the old age pension by €30 a week has echoes of recent election promises but it is not the only party making such promises in this campaign.

In a nutshell, the manifesto is, like Martin himself, old Fianna Fáil: catch-all and slightly to the left.