Snap election possible - Boyle

A snap election may have to be held in the next six months due to the difficulties in cleaning up the banking system and public finances, Green Party chairman Dan Boyle said today.

Mr Boyle said he thought the probability of an election in the next six months was "40:60".

"Getting to January is going to be a challenge," he told RTÉ's Morning Irelandprogramme.

Mr Boyle was speaking after a poll in The Irish Timestoday revealed three quarters of the electorate would like to see a change of government and shows Fianna Fáil slipping to a record low of just 17 per cent.

Responding to the poll Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said he is ready for a general election “today or anytime”.

“I said last year when the Taoiseach was appointed that he should seek a mandate from the people that didn’t happen and all over the country people refer to this on a regular basis,” Mr Kenny said.

“The problems facing our country are not within the capacity of any one individual,” he added.

However, Government chief whip Fianna Fáil’s Pat Carey said he was not surprised at the results of the poll.

He said that while poll is “bad” and “very disappointing” getting out of the serious crisis the country is in “is more important than popularity of any one political party”.

“Whether the poll was there or not the next 100 days are going to be very difficult,” Mr Carey said, before adding “some of the most critical decisions that are ever going to have to be taken are going to be taken in the next 100 days.”

He said didn’t he believe there would be an election and that the Government would complete its term until 2012 but “there are always possibilities of banana skins and accidents”.

Later the Minister for Foreign Affairs Michael Martin added that while the results of the poll are “very disappointing” they are “not surprising” in the context of the economic crisis.

According to the poll satisfaction with the Government is running at just 11 per cent, with 85 per cent of voters expressing dissatisfaction with its performance.

When people were asked who they would vote for if there were a general election tomorrow, the adjusted figures for party support, compared with the last Irish Times poll in May were: Fianna Fáil, 17 per cent (down three points); Fine Gael, 34 per cent (down two points); Labour, 24 per cent (up one point); Sinn Féin, 10 per cent (up two points); Green Party, 3 per cent (no change); and Independents/others, 12 per cent (up two points).