PARTY REACTION:FINE GAEL and Sinn Féin have welcomed their improved showing in the latest Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI poll, but Taoiseach Brian Cowen said the only poll that counted was "the one on the day of the election".
Commenting on the Fine Gael rise from 24 to 30 per cent, sources in the main Opposition party said: “The fact that we have a plan for economic recovery is getting through, and the fact that we have a team of experienced people expressing it coherently is also probably having an effect. We are also conscious that it is one poll in a volatile political environment, and we will continue to offer the prospect of stability and competence in government if elected.”
Speaking in Brussels, where he was attending the European Council, Mr Cowen would not be drawn on the 17 per cent showing for his party and his personal rating of 14 per cent.
“The opinion poll that counts at the end of the day – we all know it’s a well-worn phrase – is the one on the day of the election. The sovereign will of the people will decide who governs the country. In the meantime we have a very strong responsibility to implement the policies needed.”
He suggested the most reliable indicators of his party’s standing would emerge during the election campaign when a “considered and informed debate” would allow people to understand where each party stood on the issues surrounding the country’s economic and fiscal situation.
Asked was the situation facing him and his party “unrecoverable” in the light of such low poll figures, Mr Cowen replied: “I am not in the punditry business. I am in the business of doing my job to the very best of my ability in the public interest.”
In Dublin a Sinn Féin spokeswoman said in response to the party’s rise from 8 per cent to 15 per cent: “Sinn Féin is confident that we have steadily growing support.
“That said, we won’t be getting carried away with the recent poll figures. We are looking forward to the real poll in the upcoming general election.”
Speaking in Cork yesterday, party president Gerry Adams said: “Sinn Féin now offers the only real alternative to the failed conservative consensus.”
A Labour spokesman, commenting on the party’s 8 per cent fall to 25 per cent, said: “Of course people are disappointed that we have experienced a drop, but the more seasoned political heads in the party were always aware that, given we had risen so spectacularly in the recent polls, there was always a danger we would slip back. We are still very satisfied with that performance; it would probably give us in the region of 50 seats.”
Socialist Party MEP Joe Higgins said: “The increase in support for what the pollsters have termed ‘Independents/Others’ hides the growth in support for the radical left in the form of the recently-launched United Left Alliance.”
Fianna Fáil Galway West TD Frank Fahey said a general election was “unlikely” before April or May of next year.
Speaking on Raidió na Gaeltachta’s Adhmhaidin programme, he described the poll result as “bad news” for his party, saying it would only translate into about 30 seats if an immediate election took place. He believed a general election would not be held until April or May.
Commenting on the Green Party’s view that a poll should be held in January, Mr Fahey said: “I hope they look at where we are now.”
