REACTION:FINE GAEL frontbenchers fell in behind party leader Enda Kenny in the aftermath of yesterday's Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI opinion poll results, which revealed a decline in support for the largest Opposition party.
The poll recorded a reduction of three points for Fine Gael, placing the party at 24 per cent. Labour consolidated its position as the most popular party in the State with 33 per cent, up four points, while Fianna Fáil drew level with Fine Gael for the first time in almost two years.
Fine Gael spokesman on finance Michael Noonan supported Kenny when he spoke to reporters on the plinth outside Leinster House.
Asked if he had full confidence in the leader, Mr Noonan replied: “Absolutely.”
The Limerick East TD said Labour “had a surge going at the moment” and that Fine Gael were going to win more seats than it got in the last election. “I don’t know anybody who doesn’t say that the next government is going to be a Fine Gael-led government with a very significant Labour component,” Mr Noonan said.
The party’s deputy leader, Dr James Reilly, insisted Fine Gael had the right team, while communications spokesman Leo Varadkar said it would be foolish to overreact to polls. The survey was taken earlier this week, when the row over Dáil pairings was at its height and as the Fine Gael tactic of refusing pairs for Ministers appeared to have backfired.
Poll findings in June helped trigger a leadership heave against Mr Kenny, who saw off a challenge from his then deputy leader Richard Bruton.
However, any immediate attempt to replace Mr Kenny looked unlikely last night.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen said polls were a “snapshot of opinion” when asked how he accounted for the modest recovery in Fianna Fáil support. The party gained three points. “I don’t react very much to polls. There’s polls coming out every day of the week now as far as I can see. They’re a snapshot of opinion at the time, I presume,” Mr Cowen said.
“You see a lot of variation in these polls over the last week. Obviously from our point of view as a Government we’re just concentrating on the job at hand and getting on with it. Polls will come and go, I’m sure.”
Mr Cowen was speaking to reporters at the Aviva stadium in Dublin where he was addressing a conference.
A spokesman for Labour said the party was very pleased with the result, claiming it demonstrated the party’s potential to dominate Fine Gael in the next Government.
“It confirms what we have been saying all along: that Irish politics is now a three-horse race. There’s still a lot of work to be done but we think the poll indicates the potential of the Labour Party to be the largest party in government after the next general election,” he said.
Sinn Féin dropped two points to 8 per cent. A party spokesman said: “We’d rather see a debate about the issues of the day than the numbers as polls show. It’s probably a cliche now, but the only poll that matters is the one on election day.”
The Green Party went down two points to 2 per cent and Independents were unchanged at 9 per cent.
Despite the improvement in Fianna Fáil’s position, just 13 per cent of voters were satisfied with the way the Government was doing its job (a rise of one point), while 83 per cent are dissatisfied (no change).
On the party leaders, Brian Cowen got a satisfaction rating of 19 per cent (up one point). Enda Kenny was on 25 per cent (up one point). Eamon Gilmore was on 49 per cent (up three points). John Gormley was on 18 per cent (down three points); and Gerry Adams was on 29 per cent (down two points).
