A Labour election candidate has criticised the party's closeness to Fine Gael and has called on the party leadership to pursue a more independent line in the run-up to the general election.
The party's candidate in Dublin South, Aidan Culhane, was responding to a poll in the Sunday Business Post which confirmed a downward trend in party support shown in earlier polls.
The Red C monthly tracking poll published yesterday showed Fianna Fáil up six points to 39 per cent, Fine Gael were on 23 per cent, down two points, Labour was on 10 per cent, down four, Sinn Féin was also on 10 per cent, up two, the Greens were on 8 per cent, up one, the PDs on 3 per cent, down one, and Independents 8 per cent, down one.
The increase in support for Fianna Fáil was the most dramatic movement in public opinion since the Red C tracking polls began at the start of 2006.
"I have always been a supporter of an independent strategy and spoke in opposition to the motion from the party leader at conference last year in Tralee," said Mr Culhane.
"I believe Labour is now suffering from being unable to present its different and distinctive policies to the electorate.
"The growth in support for parties perceived as being on the left is evidence that our closeness to Fine Gael is damaging us electorally," he added.
Mr Culhane said that as a democrat he accepted the decision on coalition with Fine Gael which was taken at the conference, but he maintained that there was still scope for a more independent line than that being pursued.
He cited the view expressed by party leader Pat Rabbitte at the Tralee conference, that they would go into the election with a strong, coherent, radical manifesto representing the party's values and nothing else.
"I agree wholeheartedly with that statement, but believe that in the presentation of joint policy positions with Fine Gael we have moved away from it," he said. "The outline policy principles are becoming policy documents. We are paying a price for that and it is time to revert back to the decision taken in Tralee."
Mr Culhane said that the concern expressed by those who feared that an electoral pact with Fine Gael had been vindicated since the conference. In four of the last five polls, Labour has been at 10 per cent, a point and a half below the general election performance in 2002.
"I don't like a politics that is about ruling people out, particularly from a party with our share of the vote. More especially I believe that the nature of the pact we are now in forces us to define our politics in a negative way. From my experience on the doorsteps, the Opposition is perceived as being against things.
"In doing so, even though Labour in particular played a key role in the origins of the Celtic Tiger, we are perceived as being begrudging about the progress made in recent years," he said. "And let's be honest, progress there has been. Not enough, and certainly not as much as an imaginative Government could provide, but progress nonetheless."