The Government's claims that the majority of people are living in splendour are false and must be challenged daily, Labour leader Pat Rabbitte has said.
Speaking at the end of the parliamentary party's two-day gathering in Clonmel, Mr Rabbitte said: "You would get the impression listening to this Government that everyone is living in the land of milk and honey, that everybody has made a fortune out of property investment, that everybody owns racehorses.
"It isn't like that for a very great section of our people, who are finding it difficult to make ends meet in a very high-cost society where they are paying more for childcare, if they can get it, than they are for their mortgage. This is the life of ordinary people and it is about time that Government Ministers started to engage on all of these issues."
Dealing with childcare, Mr Rabbitte said those who made the choice of staying at home with children must be respected and services for those who went out to work must be provided.
In Sligo earlier this month, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern highlighted the needs of stay-at-home parents during his address to the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party.
However, Mr Rabbitte said it was "a pity that the Taoiseach did not discover that at the time of individualisation" when then minister for finance Charlie McCreevy changed the tax laws to benefit working couples, rather than those with one spouse in the home.
Following a discussion about political priorities for the Dáil session ahead, Mr Rabbitte said it would concentrate on childcare, nursing home charges and the need for political and Garda accountability.
"We will have a great deal to say about Mary Harney's attempts to set up a parallel private health service that will exploit a tax loophole created by Mr McCreevy during his time as minister for finance."
Labour colleagues, he said, had also "pushed" for more action on public housing. "We haven't been putting enough stress on public housing. At a time when we are building the highest number of houses that we have ever built, fewer local authority houses than ever are being built."
Questioned about yesterday's Irish Examiner poll, which showed that support for Fianna Fáil had increased in recent times, despite the controversy generated by the RTÉ television series Rip-Off Republic, Mr Rabbitte said: "I think that the poll confirms that the contest is evenly matched between the two alternative governments. That is likely to be the situation until when battle is joined. We take great encouragement from that."
The Government, he said, should be riding high in the polls "if they had used the fruits of the economy to build a fair society, but they haven't done that".
Mr Rabbitte will this week travel to meet supporters in Cork East, Cork South West and Louth constituencies.
Despite questioning, he refused to say whether he would demand to be minister for finance in any Fine Gael-Labour-led coalition: "I have not thought about that. I have no intention of jumping hurdles this early."
