Ahern acknowledges 'hammering' in opinion poll

The Taoiseach has today acknowledged that the Government got a "hammering" in an opinion poll published yesterday.

The Taoiseach has today acknowledged that the Government got a "hammering" in an opinion poll published yesterday.

However, speaking on RTE radio, Mr Ahern said he would be trying to "to get the message out there that this country is doing very well."

He added that he was not a liability to Fianna Fáil, and that he would try to focus on the economy, Northern Ireland, health, and the upcoming EU presidency.

"I was on the 68 to 80 mark for a long time and now I am on 37. That's poor, there's no argument about that," he said.

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He said that the poll was conducted during a week when ministers faced a number of tough issues, adding: "We had a week of the government getting a hammering... that does affect issues."

"Overall I think economy issues and other issues concern people, they worry people and for the last year we have had the ongoing battle of what we said anddid not say.

"But we have done our best to explain that. There is no point in going back through that."

The Government's popularity plummetted to 25 per cent, the lowest of any administration in a decade in the Millward Brown IMS poll published in the Irish Independentyesterday.

The Taoiseach's personal rating continued to slide standing at 37 per cent.

The poll showed: Fianna Fail 34 per cent (down 1 per cent); Fine Gael 21 per cent (down 2 per cent); Labour 15 per cent (up 2 per cent); Sinn Fein 10 per cent (up 2 per cent); Greens 5 per cent (unchanged); PDs 4 per cent (unchanged); Independents 11 per cent (unchanged).

The leaders' ratings were: Mr Gerry Adams (SF) 45 per cent (down 5 per cent); Pat Rabbitte (Labour) 43 per cent (down 9 per cent); Ms Mary Harney (PDs) 41 per cent (down 5 per cent); Mr Bertie Ahern 37 per cent (down 4 per cent); Mr Trevor Sargent (Greens) 31 per cent (down 7 per cent); and Mr Enda Kenny (FG) 26 per cent (down 6 per cent).

The last time a Government had a lower rating than the Coalition was in 1993 when only 22 per cent expressed satisfaction with Mr Albert Reynolds's Fianna Fáil coalition with the Labour Party.