IT MAY be time to consider the idea of a fixed D�il term. We have now had months of speculation about when Bertie Ahern will name the date of the general election. The main topic of conversation in Leinster House concerns the timing of the election. Will he go in May? When in May? Or could he keep going into early June? This is no way to operate a political, not to mind a parliamentary, system. Why should the taoiseach (and not just the incumbent) be able to fix the date of the general election?

Why should the taoiseach of the day be able to manipulate the date of the election for the advantage of his own party? This power should not reside with one politician.

In effect we have had three fixed-term D�il sessions since 1992 with the last three parliamentary terms lasting close to their full five-year durations. Bertie Ahern, in particular, was influenced by the political upheavals of the early 1980s and the mistake of Charlie Haughey in calling an unnecessary election in 1989.

We have fixed terms for local councils and the European Parliament (both five years) while the president serves a fixed seven-year term before having the option of seeking a single second term. The D�il should be no different. The current regime - where the taoiseach has the power to dissolve the life of a D�il term - should be overhauled with a constitutional referendum to fix the natural life of parliament at five years with general elections at regular intervals every five years in the month of May. The other attraction of fixed-term D�ils would be the ability to address preelection spending. There has been much attention in recent weeks on the money being spent by various general-election candidates. As there are no rules to limit spending before an election is called, these highspending candidates are not breaking any rules. Under the current system - with no idea when a election might be called - it is virtually impossible to regulate preelection spending. A fixed-term D�il would allow for greater controls on all election spending and not just that spent during the duration of the campaign itself.

The British Labour Party in its 1992 election manifesto proposed having a fixed parliamentary term at Westminster. "No government with a majority should be allowed to put the interests of party above country, " Labour claimed. Blair's party subsequently lost interest in the idea but back in 2002 one MP, Tony Wright, raised the issue again. "When I asked one of my colleagues what he thought about fixed-term parliaments, he said, 'What a good idea. What shall we say - 20 years?'" The Sweeney, crime"ghter ELECTIONS are great for promises but they also allow budding politicians to practise their fictionwriting potential. Brody Sweeney - Fine Gael's candidate in Dublin North East - is campaigning for more local garda� in his constituency.

In a new canvass leaflet, Sweeney identifies an unusual cause for murders on the north side of the Liffey. "Huge increase in violent murders in the area since probation office opened in Donaghmede, " Sweeney claims. Michael McDowell and Noel Conroy take note - close the country's probation offices to reduce the murder rate.

"Proctor out. Hoctor out" was the chant heard in some pubs in Nenagh last week. The jobs losses at the Proctor & Gamble plant is bad news for Fianna F�il in the highly competitive three-seat Tipperary North constituency. Former Fine Gael minister Michael Lowry looks set to be returned to the D�il but Fianna F�il is under huge pressure to hold onto its two outgoing TDs, Michael Smith and M�ire Hoctor. Despite the Fine Gael meltdown in 2002, Noel Coonan was ahead of Labour's Kathleen O'Meara and he looks the best placed to benefit from any slippage in Fianna F�il's vote.

Left, right and all points in between BERTIE Ahern has little time for Joe Higgins, who has a habit of annoying the Fianna F�il leader as he did again last week. "From his answers to the previous two questions, I note the taoiseach is in script mode big time. I ask him to leave aside the script and say if there is any other way to describe the corporation tax policy of his government except to say that it is utterly immoral, " the Socialist Party TD asked.

Ahern suddenly sprung into life. "Whatever about me being in script mode, that is the classic script of those in Europe who criticise the Irish tax system and want to harmonise European taxes, " the self-styled socialist said as he proceeded to reverse ideological positions with Higgins. "I am sad to see the deputy, who normally fights the cause of working-class people to have work, would adopt the rightwing view of some French and German people."

Higgins was not going to be silenced. "The taoiseach should do me a favour and return to his script after all." But Ahern was on a roll. "In fairness, the deputy is consistent. If the sun shines, he wants to see rain. He has always been like that. I understand that and fair play to him. He has been consistent for 30 years."

By now Pat Rabbitte was throwing his hands up in the air in mock exasperation while a fluinfected Enda Kenny was probably wondering if he should have stayed in bed.

"The taoiseach did not deal with the issue, " Higgins interjected. Not for the first - or the last - time, Joe.