Former taoiseach Bertie Ahern has launched a thinly-veiled attack on the government's decision to hold the Dublin central by-election in June, claiming that his brother Maurice "would have won it" if it were held on a different date.

Speaking while out canvassing on behalf of his brother in Drumcondra, he noted that the seat vacated by the late Tony Gregory TD is "not our seat" but that the local organisation would "give it a shot".

"If you were to go strictly on figures, and the history of by-elections, it's not good. But I mean every election we've ever fought, we give it everything," he said.

Asked if he thought Maurice Ahern would stand a better chance of being elected if the poll had been held separately to the local and European elections, he agreed, noting that in "our constituency, like any constituency in the country, it's not often that every single delegate agrees on one thing... It's our belief we would have won it if they were separate.

"That's our belief, not my belief," he said. "If I was given the choice, it would have been separate. In this constituency, every single delegate at comhairle, and every single candidate, and every single elected person was of the view that they should be separate. That was our position. It is complicated, having a European election, a by-election and a local election. There is no doubt about that."

A decision to hold the election on a different date would have had several benefits, Ahern added.

"I just think you wouldn't have the competing factors of the European [election]... Every time at the door, you have to go through the ritual. Everyone isn't following politics all the time," he said."

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