Rebuilding Fine Gael has been tough but, against the odds, Enda Kenny has made his party relevant again. The organisation is stronger, its message clearer and its finances . . . as this month's national billboard campaign testifies . . . on a sounder footing.

All these achievements will count for nothing, however, if Enda Kenny does not lead his party into government after the next general election, which is expected to be called in 12 months. The crucial task now for the Fine Gael leader is to convince the electorate he can do the job of Taoiseach.

Recent opinion polls have been disappointing for Fine Gael and the Labour Party, its principal coalition partner in an alternative government. There is, however, enough time for those two parties to turn that position around.

This weekend, at the Fine Gael ardfheis, Kenny set out what he called the "battleground" for the next election . . . health, crime and the use of public money. The voters, however, are not being asked to support Fine Gael policies. They are being asked to put Fine Gael into power with Labour, and most likely the Green Party. The policy agenda of an alternative government will be determined by the negotiators of those parties. As yet, the electorate has no idea what would be the ethos of a government led by Enda Kenny and Pat Rabbitte.

The challenge for Kenny and Rabbitte is to present the public with a genuine alternative to the current government. The offer of a change of personnel around the cabinet table is not enough. Attacking the current government's record may not be sufficient to convince enough voters to switch their allegiance away from Fianna Fail and the Progressive Democrats.

The public may be growing weary of those two parties and the same ageing faces that have been in government since 1997. But, without an idea of what Fine Gael and Labour are offering, the electorate faces a different proposition when asked to vote for the parties in the numbers needed to help them win the necessary 25 additional Dail seats.

The voters deserve to be presented with a policy prescription to the challenges of modern Ireland. There was not enough in last night's leader's address by Enda Kenny to conclude that Fine Gael is, as yet, offering a genuine alternative. It can only be hoped that the ongoing discussions on an agreed policy platform between Fine Gael and Labour will deliver something radically different.

The country has been led, and in many areas successfully, by political managers for almost a decade now. There is a gap in politics, however, for leaders with passion and hunger. There is space for imagination.

Polices and strategies determined by focus group research will take the challengers only so far. In the same way that Enda Kenny once promised to "electrify" Fine Gael, he now needs to convince us that, as Taoiseach, he can do the same for the country.