The minister, a close ally of Bertie Ahern, the taoiseach, also took a swipe at the Progressive Democrats, the junior coalition partners, whom backbenchers accuse of driving the economic agenda.
"In economic and social policy, Fianna Fail rejects the notion that the state should take a back seat and allow unbridled market forces shape our country," he told election workers in his native Dundalk, Co Louth.
Ahern ruled out higher taxes, however, denouncing the opposition's tax-and-spend policies. The speech, which recommends a further rise in the minimum wage, an increase in the old age pension to €200 a week and a budgetary focus on lower incomes, is designed to appease backbenchers and voters.
The shift is also aimed at arresting the seemingly inexorable rise of Sinn Fein in working-class areas.
Ahern suggests that the social change will be achieved without increasing the tax burden, implying the country will steer a middle course.
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Referring to the government's model of economic and social policy, Ahern said: "Let's be clear then. We choose neither Berlin nor Boston . . . both alienate the poor. Neither can support a sustainable caring social policy."
Mary Harney, the tanaiste, famously coined the phrase "closer to Boston than Berlin" that has become shorthand for the choice between right of centre and left of centre economic policies.
"Fianna Fail rejects the classic neo-liberal stance on inequality," Ahern said, in a thinly veiled reference to comments by Michael McDowell, the PD justice minister, that "inequality" could be an incentive in the economy.
"We reject the 'winner takes all' approach. We have built a powerful economic engine. Now we must use that engine to drive real social improvement," he said.
Ahern suggested a list of social policy priorities: