THE SIGNIFICANT number of uncommitted voters will be the focus of Fianna Fáil attention in the final few days before the election, party leader Micheál Martin has said.
Citing this week's Irish Times/ Ipsos MRBI poll which put undecided voters at 19 per cent, Mr Martin said: "Obviously we are targeting . . . that 20 per cent and clearly that 20 per cent are anxious to seek further information in relation to . . . ideas and policies."
He noted some 30 per cent of voters polled late last week had indicated they may still change their minds about whom to vote for.
“There’s a substantial amount to be fought for and to be targeted in the coming days and that’s where our focus will be,” he said.
Mr Martin was speaking at RTÉ in Dublin following an appearance on the Today with Pat Kennyprogramme, during which he answered questions from listeners.
He said he hoped last night’s debate would allow for a “greater fleshing-out of the issues” and a greater discussion of the detail behind the policy programmes of the main political parties.
Addressing the issue of the teaching post that remains open for him after his 22 years in the Dáil, Mr Martin said he would not return to teaching and he said he had chosen not to accrue a pension from that job.
The Fianna Fáil leader said if he were to resign his teaching post now, “a person would lose their job”. He would wait until the end of the academic year in order to do this, he indicated.
Among those who asked questions of him on the radio programme were a self-employed businessman and a taxi driver.
The taxi driver said the U-turn by the regulator on the rule that taxis must be no older than nine years “smacks of vote-grabbing” in the days before the election.
A businessman named Ivor told Mr Martin that thousands of small business people had “gone to the wall” and there was “nothing for them” because of the State’s policies with regard to the self-employed.
“You went to the bondholders Mr Martin, and you secured every penny they were owed. Can I go to your Government in the morning with the debts that people have left me with as a small company?” the caller said.
Mr Martin replied that the reason the Government had secured the banking system was to protect the self-employed and the 1.8 million who work in the State.
James Murphy from Clonsilla said sheriffs were calling to houses to reclaim goods for defaulted loans but there had yet to be a prosecution of a banker or a financial institution.
The Fianna Fáil leader agreed he was disappointed but insisted a “major investigation” was under way. “Parliamentarians don’t prosecute in this country. There is an independent prosecutorial and judicial system here and we do have to allow it take it’s course.”