THE Progressive Democrats have made dramatic gains from the Dunnes Stores payments to politicians controversy. In the latest Irish Times/MRBI opinion poll, they have replaced Labour as the third ranking party.
More than three quarters of others believe the Government as been damaged by the disclosure that Mr Ben Dunne paid 208,000 to build an extension to Mr Michael Lowry's home. And they are taking it out on the Labour Party.
The Lowry affair has pushed the Coalition's dissatisfaction rating to an all time high. Almost half of the electorate, 49 per cent, disapprove of the Taoiseach's handling of the Lowry affair.
Against the background of Mr Lowry's forced resignation as minister for Transport, Energy and Communications, and disclosures of Dunnes Stores payments to ether politicians, the PDs' support has almost doubled to 11 per cent. The leader of the party, Ms Mary Harney, is recording a satisfaction rating of 71 per cent.
The Labour Party is the clear victim of the Dunnes Stores controversy, recording a drop of three percentage points to 10 per cent support, and falling to fourth place behind the PDs.
The poll was conducted among a national quota sample of 1,000 electors at 100 sampling points throughout all constituencies in the State at the height of the Lowry fall out on Thursday and Friday, December 5th and 6th. This followed the Dail debate on Mr Lowry's resignation and the allegation that a senior Fianna Fail figure had received £1 million in payments from Dunnes Stores.
When the 20 per cent of "don't knows" are excluded, the state of the parties is: Fianna Fail 46 per cent, up one point since September; Fine Gael 24 per cent, down one point; Labour 10 per cent, down three points; PDs 11 per cent, up five points; Democratic Left 2 per cent, unchanged; Green Party 2 per cent, down one point; and Others 5 per cent, down one.
There has been an interesting shift also in the core vote of the parties. The core party support for Fianna Fail is 38 per cent, up two points, signalling that the party could finally be making inroads into the crucial floating vote. Fine Gael's core vote, at 20 per cent, has not shifted at all in three months, indicating that the party is down to its core base.
Labour's core vote is back at its lowest point since the 1992 election, reflecting, perhaps, the disappointed expectations of Mr Spring as moral arbiter of political events. The residual effect of the PDs' recent conference, coupled with its demand for a statutory investigation of the Dunnes Stores payments, could be reflected in the increase in its core vote from 5 per cent to 9 per cent since September.
Ms Harney surpasses all other party leaders with her personal satisfaction rating of 71 per cent, up 15 percentage points in this poll. This compares with the Taoiseach, at 53 per cent, down one point; the Tanaiste, with 52 per cent, up one point; the Minister for Social Welfare, Mr De Rossa, with 40 per cent, down three points. The Fianna Fail leader's rating is 58 per cent, an increase of six points.
The Coalition's satisfaction rating has reached its lowest point, 39 per cent, since the Government was formed two years ago. A majority, 51 per cent, is dissatisfied "with the manner in which the Government is running the State.
Some 76 per cent of voters think the Government has been damaged by the Lowry affair, among them 70 per cent of Fine Gael and 80 per cent of Labour supporters. Only 17 per cent believe the Government was not damaged, among them 27 per cent of Fine Gael voters.
Little more than one third of voters, 36 per cent, approve of the day the Taoiseach handled the Lowry affair, while 49 per cent disapprove.
