New Ideas" was the message, as over 20 Labour hopefuls read out scripts written for them by the party's backroom advisers. This level of control freakery is not unique to Labour. All the main parties now treat their allocated RTE air-time as an advertising slot.

At the Helix in Dublin yesterday, everybody was 'on message', with party officials even warned not to talk to the media . . . the gathering was about generating maximum exposure for the election candidates.

Those same party staffers may, however, be the latest source of difficulty for Pat Rabbitte's leadership. An entry posted last week on politics. ie, the country's premier political website, points to problems with Labour's employee pension scheme. It seems the pension scheme has been running a deficit of over 430,000. "The scheme is in real trouble and the leadership know it, that's why they set up a working group to address the issue, " the entry alleges.

"However, in the past two years nothing has happened."

The anonymous website whistleblower also says, "Rabbitte has abysmally failed to make any progress, leaving the long-serving staff in Ely Place [Labour HQ] with the prospect of having little or no pension when they retire."