Joan Burton is the most popular Minister, James Reilly the least

Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton has the highest satisfaction rating of a number of prominent Cabinet Ministers, according to the latest Irish Times, Ipsos MRBI poll.

The poll also shows that Minister for Justice Alan Shatter has suffered a significant drop in his satisfaction rating since last October.

Minister for Health James Reilly comes bottom of the list of six high-profile Ministers. Both Ministers occupy the same place on the list as they did when the same question was put to voters last October.

Voters were asked to say whether they were satisfied or dissatisfied with the way six named Ministers were doing their job.

Mr Reilly came bottom of the list, with just 13 per cent expressing satisfaction with his performance and 70 per cent saying they are dissatisfied. Some 17 per cent had no opinion.

This was identical to the response in last year's poll.

Fine Gael voters
Fine Gael voters were more supportive of the performance of their party's deputy leader, with 28 per cent expressing satisfaction, but his rating was much lower among Labour voters, who were even less satisfied than Fianna Fáil supporters.

Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan was the next lowest on the list with just 16 per cent satisfied, 52 per cent dissatisfied and 32 per cent having no opinion.

Minister for Justice Alan Shatter was the only Minister whose rating has changed significantly since last year. It has dropped 12 points to 20 per cent and he has dropped one place.

Unsurprisingly his most positive rating came from Fine Gael voters and those in the wealthy AB social category.

Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin moved up one place, with a satisfaction rating of 23 per cent and a dissatisfaction score of 46 per cent. Mr Howlin was far stronger among Fine Gael voters, where his satisfaction rating was 55 per cent compared to his rating among Labour voters of 24 per cent.

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has slipped two points to 36 per cent, with 50 per cent saying they are dissatisfied with his performance. Among Fine Gael voters this jumps to a massive 71 per cent rating, with just 20 per cent saying they were dissatisfied.

Impressive rating
Mr Noonan scored well with Fianna Fáil voters, 47 per cent of whom expressed satisfaction while 42 per cent of Labour voters were satisfied.

Considering how unpopular Ministers for Finance can become, particularly during recessions, his rating is impressive.

The highest rating of 41 per cent goes to Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton.

Her performance is due to a strong rating of 60 per cent among Fine Gael supporters and a 50 per cent rating among Fianna Fáil supporters. She gets 49 per cent from Labour voters.

The Minister does best in Dublin and has a strong rating across all of the social classes, being most popular among AB voters and farmers. In age terms she is most popular among the over-65s .

Protected social spending
Her continuing high rating may be partly due to the fact that social spending has been largely protected by this Government, but her performance in office has clearly impressed a wide spectrum of voters.

The survey was undertaken among a representative sample of 1,000 voters aged 18 and over, in face-to-face interviews at 100 sampling points in all constituencies last Monday and Tuesday.