POLL REACTION:TAOISEACH BRIAN Cowen has said Fianna Fáil will have to "fight for every vote" in the upcoming elections. Mr Cowen was among the political figures reacting to yesterday's Irish Times/TNS mrbi poll, which showed Fianna Fáil support down 1 per cent at 20 per cent. He was speaking on the campaign trail in Killarney.
“As I say, the trend is similar to a previous poll recently and we just have to get on with it. We’re in the midst of a campaign and we have to just fight for every vote,” he said.
“In the local elections situation, every electoral area is its own mini-election and people have to get out and put their case, and similarly with the Europeans.”
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny was in Galway yesterday, where he reacted to the poll’s finding that while his party’s support had dropped by 2 per cent, it was 16 per cent ahead of Fianna Fáil.
“It reflects very accurately what I’m hearing around the country, that the people want change and they’re now growing in confidence with the ideas and the plans and the strategies that the Fine Gael party have put forward for the last 18 months or two years about how you get the country moving again.”
A spokesman for Labour leader Eamon Gilmore said that the party was “pleased and encouraged” by the results of the poll, which showed that party’s support up 3 per cent to 23 per cent.
“The challenge for Labour now is to ensure those who indicated support for us in the opinion poll come out and cast their vote on June 5th,” he said.
“Labour will be campaigning right up until 10 o’clock on Friday to make sure that happens.”
A spokesman for the Greens said the party took some encouragement from “the popularity figures for John Gormley”.
At 3 per cent, Green Party support remained the same as in previous polls.
However, the satisfaction rating of the party leader, Mr Gormley, rose by 2 per cent to 27 per cent.
The Greens’ spokesman said the party felt that other parties had benefited from more exposure.
The party expected a “late surge” in support thanks to the announcement of the Planning Bill on Wednesday and the screening of the Greens’ party political broadcast tonight, he said.
Meanwhile, the poll found Sinn Féin support was down 1 per cent to 8 per cent.
“The poll confirms what we know already, that Sinn Féin is in a head-to-head battle with Fianna Fáil in local government and EU elections,” a Sinn Féin spokeswoman said.
“Sinn Féin is calling on voters to send the Government a message on June 5th.”
Meanwhile, Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin yesterday said that whatever happens to the Fianna Fáil vote in the local elections, the results would not affect the stability of the Government and he predicted that Brian Cowen would still be Taoiseach in 12 months’ time.
Mr Martin said that he wasn’t surprised by yesterday’s Irish Times TNS/mrbi opinion poll and he argued that it didn’t really reveal any great change from a similar opinion poll three weeks ago.
“Basically we’re in a fairly unique situation in terms of the unprecedented economic environment that we are in. This is a similar crisis to the 1929/1930 period globally – this is having its impact across the world and it’s having its impact here.
“So I’m not surprised by our showing in the opinion polls particularly in the aftermath of a budget that increases taxes out of necessity and also has to curb public expenditure out of necessity – in those circumstances, unpopularity can be expected.”
Mr Martin admitted that Fianna Fáil would do well to hold its existing council seats and while he wasn’t going to be drawn on the possible scale of council seat losses, he was confident that many “hardworking sitting Fianna Fáil councillors would be returned”.