REACTION:THE CLEAR trend of recent Irish Times opinion polls is that Fine Gael has now established itself as the leading party in the State and will consistently attract over 30 per cent of popular support, its leader Enda Kenny said yesterday.
“My intention is to lead the government and to have the largest party in the next Dáil,” he said.
Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore, also reacting to the poll, said that the substantial surge in support for his party suggested there was a “third choice” for the Irish electorate when it decides who will be the next taoiseach.
He also contended that it was very difficult to see how a government with those poll ratings had “the authority to govern.”
In his response to the poll, Mr Kenny said: “Fine Gael is attracting the highest level of public support of all the parties and the party is now an unprecedented 10 points clear of Fianna Fáil.
“I’m very pleased with our consistently high rating which I believe reflects our consistently strong leadership on the key areas of public concern at a time of financial crisis. Both I and the party look forward to a very good performance in this year’s June’s elections.”
The Irish Times TNS/mrbi poll showed Fine Gael support levels at 32 per cent, down 2 points since last November poll. This compared to Fianna Fáil which suffered a further 5-point slide to 22 per cent and the Labour Party which is up 10 points at 24 per cent.
A Fine Gael spokesman said the detailed analysis of the findings of the poll showed Fine Gael was now picking up support across all sections of society and in all regions.
The party was now attracting a significant blue collar support and had overtaken the Labour Party as the most popular party for this cohort. Fine Gael was also showing very strongly in Dublin, and was poised to gain more seats there.
Party sources said that the slight drop of 2 points to 32 per cent was not fully unexpected given that Fine Gael has adopted a “tough medicine” stance and had not adopted populist stances on issues.
Mr Gilmore said that the very strong showing of his party in the poll suggested that Labour was now a credible option as the lead party in a coalition.
“I think that politics is now a three-horse race. I have said for some time that the Labour Party of this country was going to offer the country a third choice in leadership of Government.
“That’s what we are doing. I think the public is responding positively to that. We are not Fianna Fáil. We are not Fine Gael. We are not going to be defined by reference to Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. We are going to put our case separately, distinctly as the Labour Party,” he said.
Mr Gilmore, speaking outside Leinster House, said that the approach of his party was chiming with the public mood right now. He also said that it seem to represent a more fundamental shift in Irish politics than the switching of allegiances from one party to another.
“It’s tempting to interpret the poll purely in party political terms and this is great news for the Labour Party.
“I think it’s measuring a very fundamental shift in political thinking for this country and reflecting a view that there is more to life than the economy. There is such a thing as society. We need each other,” he said.
“[People] are looking for a sense of hope, of optimism, that we can get through the recession.
“ I think that a lot of the positive suggestions that the Labour Party have made are resonating with people.
He pointed to the concentration that Labour had put on jobs in particular, “the fact that jobs and employment are the key to getting the economy starting again”.
A spokesman for the Green Party said that it regarded its support levels of 4 per cent as respectable given the unprecedented economic recession.
“We are pleased in these times to maintain support. The trend has been the same since we entered Government.
“We have maintained support since 2007 despite the huge downturn in the economy,” the spokesman added.