The Taoiseach has insisted the Government is performing very well, despite yesterday's opinion poll showing public satisfaction with the Coalition, the Taoiseach and Tanaiste ail support was at its lowest since the Government took office.
Responding to the poll yesterday, Mr Ahern said the Government would not be affected by the O'Flaherty controversy which, he said, had been "dealt with". This follows the finding of the Irish Times/MRBI poll that the majority of voters felt the administration was damaged by the affair.
"I think the performance of the Government is good," he said. "We had one difficulty . . . One issue which has just gone on like a long-playing record is not going to affect us." He accused the media of not reporting good economic news. He cited the Central Bank report, published on Thursday, which had "made enormously positive remarks about the Irish economy", yet the media had chosen only to highlight the negative warnings about inflation. It would have been "very helpful" if the positive aspects had been written about as well, he said.
