The Government had weathered the stormy first six months of its second term in office, but there were further problems in store for the coming year, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, warned yesterday.
In an interview on RTÉ Radio 1, Mr Ahern said he and the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, had faced an "onslaught" last year when they said they believed that they could get the increase in public spending back to 14.4 per cent.
"I said continually there would be no cutbacks in health. I was berated for that during the year, for weeks on end."
By the end of the year expenditure did come in on target, said Mr Ahern. Health spending came in at a 19.7 per cent increase, or €180 million more than the revised Book of Estimates.
Mr Ahern said adjustments were necessary just before the election.
"I think it did bring a sense of realism. If we did not do that, if we did not put on the brakes at that time of the year, we could have went to huge figures."
Mr Ahern said some economists predicted the country was going to be a billion euros in deficit. Others said the the deficit would be €800 million.
"But all the time we said that these figures were not correct.
"Other eminent people, or at least those who think they are, said we were going to cut back hundreds of million on health. I said that not alone would we spend the full figure in the revised Estimates, but we'd spend more than that and the fact is that we have."
"We were hammered over it. But we were hammered over it because we said we had to manage the books. We had won the election and I think some people decided they were going to jump all over us. They said we were going to have a deficit in the end of the year of €1 billion. They said we were going to reduce massively the money in health."
Mr Ahern said Government spending came in on target. "We spent more money on health, we ran the economy prudently. 2002 that was the fifth year that we brought in in surpluses."
He said substantial borrowing will be required between 2003 and 2005.
"This is why we need to manage our resources carefully, prudently, intelligently for the period ahead," he said.
On Northern Ireland, Mr Ahern said sometimes conflicting signals are given. "I suppose in Northern Ireland I'm long enough dealing with it now to realise we shouldn't be surprised with that."
Mr Ahern said in the next two months we need to keep a total engagement in order to try to find a resolution to getting the institutions working fully again.
He said Minister for Foreign Affairs Mr Cowen, officials in Foreign Affairs and his officials have been working together for several weeks with the British government and the parties in the North to try to see what way the log-jam could be broken.
"We all want to see the end of paramilitary activity, whether it comes from loyalists or whether it comes from republicans."
As part of this round of negotiations, Mr Ahern said, we have to move to what is a final, final endgame.He said there were seven or eight guidelines which he laid down in the Dáil on demilitarisation. "In a few months' time we'll be on the fifth anniversary of the Good Friday agreement on the 10th of April, and it is appropriate that we spend this period now trying to conclude all of the things that we have not succeeded in doing."
On the proposed national stadium, Mr Ahern said he still believed the country needs one. He said he was still involved in the process that was agreed in the programme for Government to look at private sector involvement.
"Of course that can only work if the IRFU and FAI are involved in it and I continue to pursue that.Some people say it's my pet project. I have lots of pet projects. Every area of governement is my pet project, but I do believe this country needs a top class stadium. I'll never give up on it."
Asked if he intended to lead Fianna Fail into the next general election, Mr Ahern replied: "Of course I will."
