Limerick has little sympathy for O’Dea, poll shows

ALTHOUGH Willie O’Dea polled a massive 19,082 votes at the last election, a new opinion poll yesterday showed he does not have a lot of sympathy among the Limerick public over losing his cabinet seat.

A significant 63% of those polled believed it was necessary for him to resign as Minister for Defence following the ‘brothel-gate’ tape controversy.

The poll was conducted for the Limerick Leader newspaper by researchers at the University of Limerick (UL) and involved 300 telephone interviews.

Maura Adshead, head of UL’s politics and public administration department, said the number of people who did not believe Deputy O’Dea’s departure from office was called for, was smaller than one would expect in a constituency where he has long had strong support.

“This suggests that many of his own supporters and followers also understand the wider issues at stake,” she said.

“It was necessary for him to resign because if he did not, the Government would implicitly be suggesting that name-calling, and innuendo, are a reasonable way of conducting business.”

The poll also focused on how Mr O’Dea was likely to fare in the next general election, with 37% saying the controversy would make no difference; 29.3% believing it would make him less popular with voters and 21.3% predicting it would boost his vote.

Ms Adshead said: “It infers that most people think that Willie O’Dea leaving cabinet was more about coalition politics than a demand for high standards in high places from his party. It reflects a generalised cynicism about the conduct of Irish politics.”

The same poll found that 32.6% blamed the Government for the decline in fortunes of Shannon Airport, 20.3% blamed the recession and 15.7% blamed Aer Lingus.